Starting with Sustainability Lesson Set: Energy and Renewables

Starting with Sustainability Lesson Set on Energy and Renewables is a series of activities for youth to explore renewable energy sources that are low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels and can help communities and the planet. This lesson set includes educator and youth-facing lessons that include a reading and literacy component, investigations, hands-on activities, quotes from STEM professionals, and opportunities for creativity. Supporting supplemental materials include slide decks and worksheets. The materials were inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and draw on content from the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals guide series found at https://ssec.si.edu/global-goals.

Smithsonian Science for Global Goals uses a Discover, Understand, Act framework to guide youth from ideas about real-world problems to actions. The Discover section contextualizes global issues within local communities by encouraging young people to recognize their existing knowledge. In the Understand section, youth gather data on real-world problems through natural and social science research. Finally, youth apply their learning through self-determined actions to help solve problems for their local and global communities.