What Will We Do?

Students doing Virtual Catching Sunshine use a simulation to do the challenge. They work virtually to set up a solar collector and use it to catch sunshine. This involves working with a virtual tutor to decide on the following: a container and transparent top to use as a collector; the color of the inside surfaces; how to insulate the collector and point it at the sun so that it catches the most sunshine; and identifying the best weather conditions time of day, and location for catching sunshine. After testing their collector to see how much sunshine it catches, they redesign and test it as often as they'd like until they think they've made the temperature inside go up as much as possible. They send their best temperature increase to the Catching Sunshine database. Analyzing displays of the data gives them the opportunity to compare their data with data submitted by other students who built collectors virtually and those who actually built collectors.

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