We’re celebrating British Science Week (5th to 14th March) by launching a three educational packs for teachers who want to bring the topics of electricity, renewable energy and sustainability to life in their classrooms.
Since its construction, Osney Lock Hydro has proved an inspiring educational and practical resource for understanding sustainability. Sadly covid restrictions mean we are currently unable to host school tours on site – so we are bringing Osney Lock Hydro to the classroom.
Thanks to the support of Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust and The National Heritage Lottery Funding we and we have produced three educational packs. With lesson plans, presentations and worksheets, the packs are designed to support KS2 and KS3 learning on a range of subjects.
Each Lesson includes
- a lesson plan
- presentation and supporting delivery notes (powerpoint and pdf versions each with their own delivery notes)
- worksheets and answer sheets, in printable and fillable versions
Incorporating short videos, discussion points and highlighting links to cross curricular learning, these resources use Osney Lock Hydro as a case study to explore each of these topics.
Lesson 1: Hydro power
- understand what hydro power is
- be able to explain how hydro electricity is generated
- be familiar with different hydropower schemes
- be able to identify and explain the function of an Archimedean screw turbine
The full set of materials can be downloaded from here: Hydro power
Lesson 2: Osney Lock Hydro
- be able to identify reasons for Osney Island’s suitability for a run of river hydro scheme
- understand what it means to have a share in a community owned project like Osney Lock Hydro
- be able to identify and explain the way the scheme benefits the community
The full set of materials can be downloaded from here: Osney Lock Hydro
Lesson 3: Fish pass
- be able to identify the reason why fish migrate
- understand how different types of fish pass allow fish to migrate upstream
- explain why the fish pass was installed at OLH and the benefits this has brought
The full set of materials can be downloaded from here: Fish pass
These resources were created for us by the wonderful Emma Arnold, Education Officer at Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust and form part of a wider range of educational materials on electricity, solar and our sustainable future which are available from the WeSET website.
Thanks also go to National Lottery Heritage Fund who have funded the creation of these materials as part of our ‘Unlocking the potential of our river’ project.