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Science Launch G4 / Week 05 / Wednesday
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Week 05 · Where Energy Comes From

Wednesday

Investigation: The resource game
// Renewable and nonrenewable resources
⏱ about 15 min

Wednesday: The resource game

Rocket dumps a box of paper clips on the table. "Let's pretend these are energy," he says.

Raven makes two piles. "This big pile is like coal. This small pile is like wind. What do you notice about their sizes?"

"The coal pile is way bigger," Rocket says. "So coal wins!"

Nova circles the table. "Here is my hint," she says. "Watch what happens after a few rounds. One pile gets refilled."

What you need

  • 30 paper clips (or dried beans, or scraps of paper)
  • Two bowls
  • A sheet of paper and a pencil
  • One or two players
Safety first
Nothing goes in your mouth.
Keep small pieces away from little brothers and sisters.

Steps

  1. Put 20 clips in the first bowl. Label it Coal. It never gets refilled.
  2. Put 5 clips in the second bowl. Label it Wind.
  3. Each round, your home needs 5 clips of energy. Take 5 from Coal.
  4. At the end of each round, refill Wind back up to 5 clips.
  5. Keep playing until Coal is empty. Write how many rounds it lasted.
  6. Now imagine using only Wind. Could you keep going forever?
MAKE A PREDICTION
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
How many rounds will the Coal bowl last if you take 5 clips each round?
RoundClips left in CoalClips in Wind after refill
1
2
3
4
5
Which bowl ran out? Write coal or wind.
Which bowl could keep going round after round?

What the model shows

In your game, Coal started bigger but ran out after 4 rounds.

Wind started small but was refilled every round, so it never ran out.

That is the difference between nonrenewable and renewable resources.

GAME THINKING
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What if Coal started with 30 clips instead of 20? How many rounds would it last?
In the game, what does refilling the Wind bowl stand for?
After round 2, how many clips were left in Coal? Type a number.
WHY THIS EXERCISE20 minus 5 minus 5 is 10.

Great modeling today! Tomorrow we look at how using energy affects the land, water and air.

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