Ecovoltaics Science Literacy Practice
Scientific Reports
Grades3-12Science, English Language Arts
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Provided by Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center
What it is
- In this science literacy activity, students will read a grade-level-appropriate adaptation of a peer-reviewed article that examines the replacement of a small portion of farmland devoted to growing corn for ethanol with solar panels.
- The resource includes 5 leveled versions of the article, adapted for 3rd, 4th-5th, 6th-8th, 9th-10th, and 11th-12th grade reading levels.
Teaching tips
Positives
- The differentiated versions of the scientific article make this lesson accessible for students of varying abilities.
- Students will enjoy playing the included Kahoot to demonstrate their understanding.
Prerequisites
- This article requires students to read numbers as percentages and understand what this means.
- It will help students to be familiar with solar energy as a clean energy source and to understand the difference between clean energy sources and fossil fuels.
Differentiation & Implementation
- After reading about ecovoltaics, students can check out this tour of an ecovoltaic solar garden.
- After this introduction to scientific papers, students can check out other student adaptations of peer-reviewed articles, such as this one for grades 3-8 or this one for grades 6-10.
- After reading the article and recording their answers to the questions, students can discuss how this study poses ecovoltaics as a way to address some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Students can choose one of the SDGs addressed by ecovoltaics and cite evidence from the paper to support their selection.
From the scientist review
This resource presents adaptations of a peer-reviewed article about ecologically informed solar appropriate for grades 3-12. Students are engaged with cutting-edge sustainability science in language they can understand, with terms clearly defined. An excellent guide on how to read science papers is also included. This resource is strongly grounded in climate and sustainability science and is recommended for teaching.
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