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IN THE CLASSROOM:
Students warm to solar power
  
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Nonprofit group visits kindergartners at Mountain Avenue Elementary to teach an alternative lesson.
By Ani Amirkhanian
The sun cooked a quesadilla and spun the blades of a fan as kindergartners at Mountain Avenue Elementary School got a taste of the workings of solar energy.
Hal Aronson, a representative from the Rahus Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides educational programs about solar energy, demonstrated the uses of alternative forms of energy on Wednesday at the school’s kindergarten playground.
“We’ve been talking about conserving energy,” teacher Chris Simmons, said. “This shows them another alternative source.”
Aronson explained to students that a solar oven, which was used to cook the quesadilla, doesn’t need to be plugged in to an outlet.
“This kind of electricity is not dangerous, but the one at home is,” Aronson said.
Students used miniature solar panels connected to a fan and pointed them toward the sun and watched the blades spin.
Rae Lynn Toyon, 5, held the fan in her hand, as her partner, 5-year-old Sara Chung, pointed the solar panels toward the sun’s rays.
The girls reacted with surprise as the blades started to spin.
“When we show it to the sunlight, it goes spinning,” Rae Lynn said. “When you show it to the shade, it doesn’t go.”
The Rahus Institute has been working with Glendale Water & Power and offering energy conservation workshops for teachers, Rahus Executive Director Tor Allen said.
Students also witnessed how the sun powers a water fountain when Aronson brought out a makeshift fountain that spouted water when the sun heated its solar panels.
“The sun makes it work,” said Ian Albracht, 5. “We never did this before.”
Students took turns covering the solar panels to stop the water from spouting. As soon as they moved away from the panels, the water started to flow.
Learning about energy resources in kindergarten is a science standard, Simmons said, adding that students learn to identify the Earth’s resources and understand how resources can be conserved.
“With the hands-on learning, there is no substitute for that,” Simmons said. “We need to capture that energy and use it for us.”
Hal Aronson, a representative from the Rahus Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides educational programs about solar energy, demonstrated the uses of alternative forms of energy on Wednesday at the school’s kindergarten playground.
“We’ve been talking about conserving energy,” teacher Chris Simmons, said. “This shows them another alternative source.”
Aronson explained to students that a solar oven, which was used to cook the quesadilla, doesn’t need to be plugged in to an outlet.
“This kind of electricity is not dangerous, but the one at home is,” Aronson said.
Students used miniature solar panels connected to a fan and pointed them toward the sun and watched the blades spin.
Rae Lynn Toyon, 5, held the fan in her hand, as her partner, 5-year-old Sara Chung, pointed the solar panels toward the sun’s rays.
The girls reacted with surprise as the blades started to spin.
“When we show it to the sunlight, it goes spinning,” Rae Lynn said. “When you show it to the shade, it doesn’t go.”
The Rahus Institute has been working with Glendale Water & Power and offering energy conservation workshops for teachers, Rahus Executive Director Tor Allen said.
Students also witnessed how the sun powers a water fountain when Aronson brought out a makeshift fountain that spouted water when the sun heated its solar panels.
“The sun makes it work,” said Ian Albracht, 5. “We never did this before.”
Students took turns covering the solar panels to stop the water from spouting. As soon as they moved away from the panels, the water started to flow.
Learning about energy resources in kindergarten is a science standard, Simmons said, adding that students learn to identify the Earth’s resources and understand how resources can be conserved.
“With the hands-on learning, there is no substitute for that,” Simmons said. “We need to capture that energy and use it for us.”
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