National Science Standards

Science as Inquiry: Content Standard A:
As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop:

Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Design and conduct scientific investigations. Designing and conducting a scientific investigation requires introduction to the major concepts in the area being investigated, proper equipment, safety precautions, assistance with methodological problems, recommendations for use of technologies, clarification of ideas that guide the inquiry, and scientific knowledge obtained from sources other than the actual investigation.
- Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications. A variety of technologies, such as hand tools, measuring instruments, and calculators, should be an integral component of scientific investigations. The use of computers for the collection, analysis, and display of data is also a part of this standard. Mathematics plays an essential role in all aspects of an inquiry. For example, measurement is used for posing questions, formulas are used for developing explanations, and charts and graphs are used for communicating results.
- Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and models. This aspect of the standard emphasizes the critical abilities of analyzing an argument by reviewing current scientific understanding, weighing the evidence, and examining the logic so as to decide which explanations and models are best. In other words, although there may be several plausible explanations, they do not all have equal weight. Students should be able to use scientific criteria to find the preferred explanations.
Understandings about scientific inquiry
- Mathematics is essential in scientific inquiry. Mathematical tools and models guide and improve the posing of questions, gathering data, constructing explanations and communicating results.
- Scientific explanations must adhere to criteria such as: a proposed explanation must be logically consistent; it must abide by the rules of evidence; it must be open to questions and possible modification; and it must be based on historical and current scientific knowledge.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Content Standard F:
As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of:

Environmental quality
- Many factors influence environmental quality. Factors that students might investigate include population growth, resource use, population distribution, overconsumption, the capacity of technology to solve problems, poverty, the role of economic, political, and religious views, and different ways humans view the earth.

Learning Objectives

Each student will:

Analyze data from the school lighting audit.
Write recommendations/improvement options for more efficient lighting.
Background Information, Vocabulary and Materials

Background Information, Vocabulary and Materials

Background Information
Lighting in the Library* and material learned from Lessons 6-7.

Vocabulary

Terms from Lesson 6.

Materials

Lighting in the Library’s “Student Worksheets” pages 3-10.

Lesson Procedures

Presenting the Information

None

Student Practice / Activity

Complete Lighting in the Library’s “Student Worksheets” page 4 (if not already completed), and pages 7, 8, 9, and (optionally) 10.
List recommendations for more efficient lighting in areas that were audited as basis for action plan.
[Optional: Students conduct lighting audit at home.]

Feedback

The feedback is included in the activity.

Handouts and Worksheets

Lighting in the Library’s “Student Worksheets” pages 3-10.

Critierion-Referenced Test

This material part of final test. See Testing Blueprint in Teacher's Guide for details.

*Lighting in the Library
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs
(202) 586-9240
http://www.eere.energy.gov/EE/buildings.html

Individual pages from this web site may be printed and duplicated for
student classroom use provided that proper credit is given to
the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC).