Event-Based Science: Blackout!

Event-Based Science is a new way to teach middle school science. It is an award-winning, standards-based program in which newsworthy events establish the relevance of science topics; authentic tasks create the need-to-know more about those topics; and lively interviews, photographs, Web pages, and inquiry-based science activities create a desire to know more about those topics.

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circuit parallel series solar wind solar mass ejections

Blackout! is an Event-Based Science module about electricity. It uses power outages in the west and northeast to establish the context for exploring concepts related electricity and solar activity. The task in Blackout! puts the study of electricity in a real-world setting by having students pretend to work for a power company that experiences a blackout. Their job is to find the cause or causes for the blackout.

NSTA Recommends Blackout!

As with all Event-Based Science modules, much of the information that students need is provided in the pages of Blackout!. However, more information is useful. Information about power companies and solar activity will add to the authenticity of your study.

Below are some World-Wide Web sites where additional information is available. Click on the highlighted words and be linked with helpful sites.

Blackout! Resources

A "pdf" file containing web sites, books, material lists, and correlations with National Science Education Standards.
Use the BACK button in your browser to return to this page.

HTML version

EBS Breaking News

Click here to use Google News to search and browse 4,500 continuously updated news sources for breaking news about electricity and blackouts.

Links to Blackout! related WEB Sites
(Links are checked monthly. They were working on the date of the last update.)

Sun Threatens GPS Scientists warn that the Global Positioning System GPS) is threatened by powerful solar flares.
Blackout Hits U.S. and Canadian Cities High-resolution Images from NASA A power failure left many American cities in the dark on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003.
POETRY This NASA public outreach site is packed with Blackout!-related information; classroom activities; resources; movies, pictures and sounds; 1800 FAQs; and a student magnetometer project.
Sunspot Archive This chart shows the annual average of daily sunspot readings beginning in 1700. The numbers are compiled from measurements made by a worldwide network of cooperating observatories. Open this data file with Microsoft Excel.
Space Weather Space weather refers to violent transfers of matter and energy from the sun to the Earth. This web site tells all about this important, and costly, problem and what we can do about it.
Aurora Explained Aurora Facts, Suggested Aurora Reading, Aurora Research Milestones, Aurora Induction Demonstrators.

Aurora Predictions The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska (Fairbanks) offers up-to-date predictions of the position and strength of Auroras.
Today's Space Weather See a 3-day plot of solar X-ray flux values measured on the GOES 8 and 10 satellites. The plot automatically updates every 5 minutes.
Magnet Facts Although scientists and researchers have been able to harness the power of magnets for the semiconductor and microprocessor industries, they have yet to determine what a magnetic field is..... Some current hypothesis are explored at this site.
Exploring Magnets Scroll down for worksheets in this workshop on magnets.
Amazing Magnets From the Core Knowledge sequence, this excellent set of lessons on magnets and everything magnetic will give your students plenty of hands-on experience and understanding.
Water circuit analogy to electric circuit
Video - Electrical Explosion on Live News

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Last updated on Thursday, May 01, 2008
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Blackout!

Links to Blackout! related WEB Sites (Links are checked monthly. They were working on the date of the last update.)

For links to other Event-Based Science books and pages, return to the EBS homepage:

Links to Blackout! related WEB Sites
(Links are checked monthly. They were working on the date of the last update.)