Session 2 June 2

We shared what we are thankful for during Gratitude Circle. Then we wrote a bit more of their play and began discussing the topic for today: Where does electricity come from/How is it made? We talked about how Georgia uses 40% Natural Gas (imported through a pipeline from other states), 24% Nuclear (we have 2 nuclear plants and 2 more being built), 25% Coal burning (we do not have an active mine in Georgia but again import it from other states), 4% Biomass (burning wood/animal waste), 3% Hydro-electric dams, 2% solar power and virtually no wind power to produce electricity for the state. We also discussed pros and cons of each energy source.

Then we played a relay game in teams. There was a Hydro team (blue), Coal team (black) and Wind team (white). They had to run into the field searching for their energy source and take it back to their team. Then once they found all the "coal", "water" or "wind" paper balls, they acted out how their resource makes electricity (ex: one explorer was the coal, another was the fire to heat the water and make steam, another was the turbine moved by the steam and the last was the generator turned by the movement of the turbine).

During snack, we continued adding to their original play. We also listed all the things we could think of in our house that use electricity and I wrote on the board how much wattage per hour each appliance uses. We noted that the refrigerator, AC/heating system and stove/oven and EV car charger used the most electricity. Then I had them focus on making a list of only what they used in their house this morning that needed electricity and we added up all the wattage used just for getting ready for camp this morning. It ranged from a few hundred watts to thousands depending on if they heated their breakfast, charged an EV car, took a shower, etc.

Then I let them know that you can also get electricity from chemical reactions like in batteries and we made our own Earth batteries (soil, zinc nails and copper wires) to turn on some small LED lights. We talked about conductors, insulators, flow of electrons and closed vs open circuits.

Lastly, we ate lunch, explored a new area of the creek and added another scene to their play.