Designing Energy Efficient and Cost Effective Solar Panels

In this series of lessons, students will engineer patterns of solar panels using low, medium, and high efficiency solar cells. Students will have the to opportunity to research how solar panels work and be shown a demonstration of different types of solar panels when revealed in areas of sunlight and no sunlight. In groups of two, students will develop a solar panel pattern that meet the following criteria: the solar panel(s) cover 4ft X 5ft of surface area, total costs of all cells used must be less than $300, and the solar panel must create more than 300 Watts of electricity. Students are not constructing or building a solar panel. Students will perform Math and Computational thinking to discern the most cost effective and energy efficient configuration of solar cells that generate 300 Watts of electricity or more.

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