Welcome to Sandwell's Interactive energy website. It covers aspects of the curriculum from numeracy, literacy, ICT and mathematics to cross-curricular themes such as environmental issues.
The website has been designed to make pupils aware of the effect their individual actions can make on the energy they use and therefore the environment. Data for the consumption of water, gas, oil and electricity from all Sandwell schools has been collected since 1991. We have tried to design activities that can use the data effectively to achieve our aim whilst using numeracy, mathematics and ICT skills.
The following notes are intended to help teacher's get the most out the site for their children, and to offer additional work and activities to compliment the site away from the computer. Worksheets for class or homework can be down loaded and printed as an extra resource.
The activities have been split into categories:
For all of the data handling activities you will need to access the data which is on an Excel spreadsheet. The files are quite large and so have been compressed with Winzip. It is advised that the you download the files before the lesson and place them in a shared area where the pupils can access them. When you first open the spreadsheet a warning will appear telling you that it contains a program called a Macro. Don't panic just click on Enable Macros.
The opening page contains a menu to find all the schools and the different options of resources which are:
Note: You must make sure you select one school or data for all schools will appear.
There are two spreadsheets, separated into Primary Schools Data and Secondary Schools Data.
Primary Schools main menu will also contain the options for gas and electricity to be displayed quarterly as well. Graphs will automatically be drawn for the Primary data but can then be altered if wanted.
Secondary Schools main menu will only call up the yearly totals for each energy. All the data can then be changed to examine it monthly, quarterly and then graphs can be constructed. This can be done by using the Pivot table function. A tool will be on the 'energy menu'.
It was felt that this would stretch secondary pupils but lower ability pupils could still easily access the Primary data.
Along the tool bar is the 'Energy Menu' which contains 4 options
We have put together some ways that we feel this data could be used as part of the mental warm up.
If possible have part of the data displayed on an interactive whiteboard, or
projected or on an OHP.
Using this information the following questions could be asked:
Using Calculators
OR
For more able pupils the initial pages of the Data Handling Activities can
be used to refresh pupils about drawing and interpreting a graph, referring
to labelling axes, scale.
Does the time of year effect how much gas is used?
The first graph shows the school's consumption of gas over a single year. The changes within that year are due to the extra need for heating in the winter months. Children may also notice the slight decrease in use during periods of school closure.
The second graph shows quarterly data over the period of a single year. This may need to be explained to children, but the same seasonal patterns can be noted.
Children are now ready to investigate the data within their own school and
look for seasonal patterns. Click on your school and choose the quarterly data
option.
Has the use of gas decreased in your school?
The first graph has no labelling so that questions can be raised bout the patterns in consumption of gas. Note the overall trend downward over time.
The second graph introduces the titles so that the graph carries more meaning. Note some sudden and sharp decreases in consumption.
The third graph adds quantities to reveal the completed graph, children can now see that there was a decrease in gas consumed in 1996.
Now look at fixtures data for any reasons why this may have been. E.g. suspended ceilings, and insulation reduce the gas needed for heating.
Children are now ready to investigate the gas consumed in there own school. To do this, click on the data page and select your school's data. To view schools fixtures data click on the 'energy menu' on the menu bar. The fixtures data tells you what maintenance has been carried out in each school.
Some schools do not have a reliable pattern in their gas consumption. Here
are some schools with interesting results. You may find it more worthwhile looking
at these.
Has the installation of Push Taps had an effect in your school?
The first graph has no labelling so that questions can be raised about the trend in water consumption and the patterns can be interpreted. For example: note the huge decrease.
The second graph introduces the titles of the axes so that more meaning can be added to the interpretations. For example: That changes are occurring over a period of time.
The third graph adds quantities to reveal the completed graph, children can now see that the huge decrease was in 1992 and relate actual amounts used.
Look at the fixtures added so that children can find out that the school had push taps added in 1992 and that this may explain the decrease in water consumption.
Children are now ready to investigate water consumption in their own school.
To do this click on the data page and select your own school's data. To view
schools fixtures data click on 'energy menu' on the menu bar.
Do energy saving lights make a difference?
The first graph has no labelling so that questions can be raised about the patterns in the consumption of electricity. Note that the overall trend is upwards, although temporary decreases can be seen.
The second graph introduces the titles of the axes so that the graph carries more meaning.
The third graph adds quantities to reveal the completed graph, children can now see that there was a decrease in the electricity consumed in 1998. Begin asking the children why this might have been.
Now look at the fixtures data to see if any changes within the school can explain the decrease.
Children are now ready to investigate electricity consumed in their own school. To do this, click on the data page and select your own school's data. To view schools fixtures data click on 'energy menu' on the menu bar.
Some schools do not have a reliable pattern in their electricity consumption.
Here are some schools that have interesting results. You may find it more worth
while looking at these.
Are there any other patterns in the data that can be explained?
This option gives children access to the data without any specific questions. They can look at the data and, in KS 3 and 4, change the form in which it is presented. Any patterns or interesting features can be noted and investigated.
Suggested features may be:
Pupils could use the statistical measures of average and range to analyse the data in more detail. They can make comparisons between different schools and different resources.
How Can You Improve Your School's Energy Costs?
Aim: To investigate the energy costs and improvements that can be made in school.
The chart provides 'real' costing for the improvements that can be made in
school to reduce the costs of energy. The investigations could be as small or
as large and detailed as needed by differentiating the table:
Activities May Include:
Skills include:
Budgeting
Measuring
Cost Reductions
Handling and Interpretation of Data
Investigation
(The data on this website can be used to carry out the tasks above also)
How much energy do you use?
The aim of this activity is to make pupils aware of the costs of electricity in their home and how much money they could save by making changes in their lifestyle.
The activity is actually split into 3 different tasks, which are independent of each other.
Once the pupil opens the page they will see a picture of the Bromwells home. They can then select and enter either:
Here they consider how much electricity is wasted by leaving appliances on when they are not being used. They can see the cost per hour of usage by moving the arrow over the different appliances. If you then click on the PIGGY BANK you will access a pre-programmed spreadsheet that will calculate the savings per day. Pupils will need to consider how many hours in a day they leave certain appliances on for but aren't actually being used. This could be a homework task using the worksheet 2 to collect information. They must enter the number of hours they think they leave appliances on for but are not used. NOTE: the TV on standby. They then need to collect the cost per hour from the pictures in the bedroom. If they click on BACK it will go to the room. NOTE: The costs are in pence but the total savings will be shown in pounds.
They can calculate the total cost per day, then per week and then per year.
How much could your household save? Consider how many bedrooms in house or number
of people.
How much money each class could save, each school.
Pupils could design their own spreadsheet using the numbers given from the site
to calculate savings for their whole house.
OR
Here they consider the actual cost of running the appliances in a kitchen. The process is the same as the kitchen but instead they need to consider how many hours the item is actually used for. Worksheet 1 can be used to collect relevant data as homework.
Tasks can be the same as the kitchen.
You can extend the task to see how much money each class could save in a kitchen.
They could design their own way of calculating savings using the information
given using written or ICT methods.
OR
Here they are seeing how much they could save by making energy saving changes
in their home? They will be given a budget to spend on their home and which
way will save the most money. Initially they will see another picture of the
house showing where heat escapes as a percentage of total loss of energy.
If you then click on each Lost through…captions you will be given how much
it costs to improve that problem and how much you save each year.
If you click on the door you will be given a task to complete which involves
each child being given a budget of £300 to make improvements and then
see how much they could save?
The intention is for pupils to compare different improvements, find the most
cost-effective way of saving energy, which would benefit them.
Change the amount of money given, number of years, design own spreadsheet for this.