GreenCity

Alternative Energy Lesson Plan.   An educational tool to teach alternative energy to grades six to twelve.  And it is fun too.  An instructional manual to introduce solar, wind, and geothermal power.  Here's what is different.  It uses SimCity™ Societies, a fun PC game with solar and wind power, as a teaching tool for the first time.

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and Teach Like A Gamer, a division of Canis Learning Systems (canislearning.com) presents Alternative Energy Science Lesson Plan Using Electronic Arts’ SimCity™ Societies © 2008 AlternativeEnergy.com, All Rights Reserved Written by Azam Khan SimCity Societies © 2008 Electronic Arts Inc. SimCity is a trademark or registered trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Screenshots of SimCity Societies used with permission. 'Using the popular SimCity Societies video game to introduce alternative power to our children is a good idea and alternativeenergy.com has done a very fine job with the lesson plans.' ---- Marilyn Nemzer, Director, Energy Education Group 'SimCity Societies is in the unique position of educating while entertaining. BP Alternative Energy's sponsorship of the SimCity Societies game provided us with the technical expertise to build 'energy choices and consequences' into the gameplay, so that youth around the world can be better informed. We welcome AlternativeEnergy.com's efforts towards our 'educating while entertaining' philosophy.' ---- Steve Seabolt, VP, Global Brand Development, Electronic Arts Inc. 'AlternativeEnergy.com has created a highly innovative approach to teaching students about alternative energy. From its engaging in-game challenges to the informative and practical real world assignments, this curriculum presents leading edge science in a way that students will find fun and memorable. I look forward to trying this with my students.' ---- Lucia Moritz, 6th grade math teacher, Foshay Learning Center 2|Page Introduction SimCity Societies is a highly dynamic city-constructing simulation game that allows a player to create a civilization in a myriad of ways. Ultimately shaped by the choices of the creator, cities can embody the characteristics of green, futuristic, industrial and lots of other societal models. All the elements of the city are connected, whether cultural or environmental, thus making a novel approach to city-building. The city is shaped by the decisions that affect the main attributes:       Productivity Prosperity Creativity Spirituality Authority Knowledge The socio-political freedom allotted to the player is complemented by abilities to implement over 500 unique objects on the micro scale, ranging from workplaces to residential buildings and venues. With the availability of such diverse aspects such as architectural aesthetics, SimCity Societies provides students a dazzling and holistic learning experience. This will help students learn about alternative energy in the fun game environment that students love by allowing them to build a simulated city while learning about the impact of alternative energy. The curriculum has 10 lessons, each one is divided into two main parts:   Game play Real-world applications Students will learn the basics in the tutorial, and then commence their own city. They will also do research at home that will expose them to various aspects of alternative energy and how it can be applied in their own school. The students should record everything in a journal or whatever format the teacher feels is best. Author’s Bio Azam Khan is a curriculum developer with Canis Learning Systems. He is also a freelance program designer who creates study programs that accompany popular video games. His upcoming projects will continue exploring the frontiers of progressive learning. Updates can be found on his blog at virtualstudent.com. 3|Page User Requirements To get the most out of these lesson plans, you will need:    SimCity Societies - from Amazon.com Computing Platform Requirements Journal (to record class questions and homework assignments) Intended Audience GreenCity is intended for students in grades 6-12, but it is fun for all ages. Each lesson plan contains game play and real world homework or assignments that can be applied across several grade levels. Time Frame GreenCity is created around 10 lesson plans that may be distributed according to your own time frame. The SimCity Societies game play elements do take some time to develop, so it may be best plan on X weeks to completely finish the lessons. Resources          AlternativeEnergy.com home page  Best energy educational sites  Teachers Group to share ideas  Kids fun activities – rate the best activities on the web awea.org - General industry news and links for Wind Energy windpower.org - Understanding how to setup a wind turbine windustry.org - Understanding wind energy solarenergy.org - Understanding solar energy solarexpert.com - Solar installation alliantenergygeothermal.com - Geothermal Resource epa.gov - Emissions Calculator dsireusa.org incentives for renewable energy projects in your state 4|Page Contents Lesson 1 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 2 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 3 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 4 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 5 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 6 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 7 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 8 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 9 Game Play Real – World Assignment Lesson 10 Game Play Real – World Assignment 5|Page Lesson 1 Objective: Students will learn the basics of city development by following the tutorial and laying out the foundations of a fun city. In Game: 1. Start Game 2. Pick Name 3. Play Tutorial Tutorial focuses on creation of Fun City: Setup Power -> Residential buildings -> Workplaces -> Transit system -> Happiness & Venues -> Expansion Home Activity: Research basic information pertaining to your locale 1. What is the population of your city? How many students at your school? How many staff? 2. What utility companies are supplying electricity to your city and what energy sources are they using? Subject area - Technology Standard - Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Benchmark - Understand and use technology systems. 6|Page Lesson 2 Objective: Students will apply acquired knowledge from tutorial towards creating a city from scratch that will initially use polluting power sources In Game: Start new city on normal difficulty and buildings unlocked as game progresses. Begin by choosing an achievement to work towards. Click achievements on the lower left hand side. Pick one of the 7 that you want to achieve. Choose the game speed on the lower left hand side. There are 5 to choose from. It is recommended you start off at 2 and then increase to 3 or 4 after the basics of your city are laid out. Create city: 1. Implement a polluting fossil fuel power source (for example, coal and natural gas) 2. Setup residential area 3. Setup transit (roads) 4. Setup workplaces, venues and decorations Home Activity: Research the basic science behind coal. Coal is the most abundant electricity generating resource used today. Answer the following questions as best as possible: 1. How is coal formed? 2. Where is coal found and how do you get it? 3. How is coal processed? 4. How does coal generate electricity? Subject area - Technology Standard - Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Benchmark - Understand and use technology systems. 7|Page Lesson 3 Objective: Students will demonstrate the ability to properly progress in city development while keeping homeless and unemployed population less than 5% of population and 10 or fewer workers whose mood is sad. At this point you are free to build as you see fit. You will now grow the city in accordance to what you want to achieve. As more people get jobs at workplaces, you will see money come in near the end of the day. It is recommended you monitor your income so you do not spend too much. Also try to keep homeless people and unemployment workers to a minimum. In Game: 1. Continue growing city and explore buildings with 'clickable' functions 2. Try to keep unemployment, crime, and homeless levels less than 10% of population 3. Record any messages related to pollution in journal 4. Explore Industrialist buildings. Is your city an industrialist city? Do you equate industrialists with polluting? Why or why not? A class discussion should follow briefly going over the coal homework assignment from last night. Home Activity: Research environmental impact of fossil fuels. 1. What is global warming? What is the science behind CO2 emissions and global warming? 2. Find levels of carbon emissions for any year in the 90s or 00s for Coal, Petroleum and Gas 3. Find how much kWh generated by Coal, Petroleum, and Gas for any year 8|Page