worksheets - the inventors of the sun_lk... · worksheets (group is assumed to ... teacher file...

AND THE WHEEL OF THE SUN

THE INVENTORS

ADVENTURE PACK

WORKSHEETS

(Group is assumed to be 30 pupils)

Print the pupil file

Story part 1: The last postcard

Assignment 1: Landscape beautification

Story part 2: The discovery

Assignment 2: Make them turn

Assignment 3: Hoisting stones

TEACHER FILE WORKSHEET 3:

THE DISCOVERY

2 Teacher Worksheet 3: THE DISCOVERY

The road meanders through the landscape. It’s as if they’re at the end of

the world. To Simon and Aisha’s right there are wide meadows.

To their left is a long dike holding back the sea. Simon stops the car.

They get out and climb onto the dike. Simon unfolds an enormous map.

The map flutters in the wind.

‘Show me the postcard again.’

Aisha takes the postcards out of her bag.

She holds up the last one and looks at the picture.

PART 1:

STORY THE INVENTORS AND THE WHEEL OF THE SUN (±10 MIN)

THE LAST POSTCARD

Teacher Worksheet 3: THE DISCOVERY3

‘This must be it.’

It is a wondrous sight. Large, grey wind turbines stand out prominently in

the blue sky. Aisha looks at the blades of the turbines.

‘They are turning slowly.’

Simon points to the wind turbines. ‘They are enormous. It looks as if they

are turning slowly, but in fact they are going as fast as a car.’

‘As fast as Sunny?’ asks Aisha.

‘As fast as a race car,’ replies Simon.

'There is also one old windmill amongst them,’ Aisha remarks. 'Yes' says

Simon, '‘old windmills have four sails, modern turbines have three blades”.

Simon takes the binoculars and looks around.

‘Where can George be?'

Aisha takes the binoculars from, him. The cord is still around Simon’s neck.

‘He, I’m suffocating,’ Simon gibbers. He pulls the cord off over his head.

Aisha stares at each wind turbine in turn. There are letters on them.

‘Prezenti, Salti and Korodi. Those are the names of George's lions,’

Aisha calls out enthusiastically.

‘He named the wind turbines. That one’s called Prezenti.’

Aisha runs to the first turbine. At the bottom of the tower there is a steel

door with the name ‘Prezenti’ painted above it. Aisha climbs the steps.

She impatiently turns the handle, but the door is locked.

‘Maybe that one.’

Aisha runs to the door of the second wind turbine, which is called ‘Salti’.

But that door is also firmly locked.

‘Then it must be Korodi. Of course, that was his favourite lion.’

Panting, Aisha runs to the third wind turbine. She is exhausted when she

arrives. She pulls hard on the handle. Closed. Aisha falls to her knees

despondently.

‘George, where are you?' she sighs.

She bursts into tears. She is tired from the long journey. And perhaps the

journey was for nothing. Simon, who has just arrived at the wind turbine

and is also panting, sits down next to her and tries to console her.

‘Everything will be OK.’

But Aisha is inconsolable.

‘This was the last postcard. Where do we go from here?'

Simon doesn’t have a clue.


He puts an arm around her and stares ahead. There is a gentle breeze

and the wind turbines are moving slowly. Their shadows shoot across the

grass. The blades make a soft swishing noise. Each time one of the blades

comes down you can hear the wind humming along the large blade. A very

different noise to the peeping and groaning of the old wooden mill a little

way away.

‘Wait a moment’, Simon suddenly says, 'George isn’t a lion, is he?'

‘No, of course not, silly,’ says Aisha.

Simon jumps up.

‘The lion tamer is always surrounded by his lions!’ he exclaims. 'Uncle

George must live in the old windmill. Surrounded by Prezenti, Salti and

Korodi.’

Aisha jumps to her feet.

‘That’s it. You’re fantastic, Simon.’

She runs away towards the old wooden mill. Next to the mill she sees a

hatch that is open. It looks like an underground tunnel. She takes a step

forward to look down.

‘Careful, that’s extremely dangerous.’

Simon is just in time to stop Aisha. He points to the hatch.

‘There’s a paddle wheel below. If you fall in there, you’ll be ground into a

million little pieces. This is called a pumping station.’

Simon explains to Aisha how the mill works. When the wind turns the sails,

the paddle wheel starts to move. That’s how they pump water out of the

canals back into the sea. Without the mill everything would be covered with

water here. Simon carefully opens the door of the mill.

‘George, are you there?'

No reply. Simon walks in and gestures to Aisha to follow him. It’s a large,

round room with a wooden pole in the middle.

Simon points to the pole.

‘Look, that's the mill shaft. When the sails of the mill turn, the shaft turns

too.’

Simon climbs up some small stairs to where there is a kitchen. There is

an open book lying on the table. There is a leather suitcase that contains

lots more books. Next to the stairs is a small table with its top flipped up.

Simon studies the drawing on it.

‘This is the design for a new mill’, he whispers.


ASSIGNMENT 1: LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION (±40 MIN. + 10 MIN. DISCUSSION)

Simon and Aisha arrive in a beautiful landscape with an old

windmill and a number of new, modern wind turbines.

Windmills have existed for centuries. But some people still think

that wind turbines spoil the natural scenery. Whereas others think

they look great! Of course it all depends where the wind turbine is…

Let the pupils work individually.

What you need

Paint

Old magazines

Napkins

Wrapping paper

Newspapers

Felt-tip pens

Preparation

Gather all the craft materials that you have. The choice of materials largely

determines how free the pupils can be in their designs.

Assignment

In this part of the assignment the pupils design and make a windmill or

wind turbine for the place of their choice. The pupils will have lots of ideas:

what about a wind turbine whose rotor blades look live leaves and the

tower like a tree trunk? From a wind mill in the colours of their favourite

football club to one that looks like a wonderful work of art...

The rotor blades may not be too heavy!

TIP

TIP

Pencils

Scissors

Glue

Paper

Cardboard


Questions and answers

- Prezenti, Salti and Korodi are modern wind turbines that generate

clean energy. Can you think of any disadvantages of modern windmills or

turbines?

Destruction of the landscape, the shadow cast, they are very expensive,

materials are not always sustainable, the wind does not always blow, they

bother birds and bats, noise nuisance.

Give the pupils the following background information: To reduce the

noise nuisance caused, scientists have looked closely at owls. Owls

fly almost silently because they have down on their wings. On wind

turbines, small brushes are attached to the blades to imitate the down.

– Some people think that windmills or turbines are ugly. They call it

destruction of the landscape. How would you feel if a windmill or

turbine was built next to the school? And what should it look like?

Let the pupils brainstorm; naturally all suggestions are welcome.

Continue with the Inventors worksheet another time if you notice that

concentration is flagging.

Teacher Worksheet 3: THE DISCOVERY

TIP

TIP


‘Ssh, quiet’

Simon and Aisha hold their breath. They hear someone walking upstairs. A

man comes down the stairs. His face is hidden by a pile of books.

‘George?'

‘Aisha!’

George drops his books in fright.

‘Goodness it’s good to see you’, he says. 'Oh, how I’ve missed you.’

George looks at his young niece.

‘You’ve grown, missy.’

‘I’d hope so, in two years!’ grins Aisha.

‘Two years, four months and three weeks,’ mumbles George.

PART 2:

STORY THE INVENTORS AND THE WHEEL OF THE SUN (±15 MIN.)

THE DISCOVERY


‘There’s not a day gone by that I didn’t think of you.’

Simon is looking a little uncomfortable.

‘Euh, perhaps I should introduce myself?'

Hesitating, he walks towards George and holds out his hand.

‘This is Simon, the smartest inventor in the whole world. And my best

friend,' says Aisha

George shakes Simon’s hand firmly and pulls him towards him.

Simon loses his balance and regains it my grabbing hold of George who

laughs at Simon’s clumsiness.

‘Have a seat and tell me. How did you get here?'

Aisha and Simon tell him all about their adventures. About Sunny

the electric car and how they met. How they found him thanks to the

postcards. And about the scary guy following them.

George starts. ‘What do you mean: scary guy?'

Simon looks over his shoulder, as if he’s scared that someone is

eavesdropping on them.

‘A scary guy on a motorbike is following us.’

George turns pale. ‘That’s what I was so afraid of...’ he says.

‘That’s the reason I left two years ago.’

‘I thought you were afraid of the lions?' Aisha exclaims in surprise.

George laughs. ‘Is that what they think? That I was scared? Nothing is

further from the truth.’

Uncle George sees the amazement on the face of his young niece and tells

them the whole story.

‘As you know, I’m crazy about books. I read about fun and interesting

things. But unfortunately also about serious things. We are polluting the

environment and burning much too much oil. The earth is warming up and

more and more animals are becoming extinct. I’m looking for solutions and

I have some ideas. Good ideas, even if I say so myself. One day I told my

ideas to a few smart professors. They were very interested and then...’

Aisha and Simon are on the edge of their seats.

‘And then?'

George takes an old coffee tin out of the kitchen cupboard. He opens the

tin and takes out a piece of paper. He unfolds it and lays it carefully on the

table. There are letters cut out of a newspaper stuck onto the paper. Aisha

reads them out loud.


‘Stop looking for the ultimate source of energy. Otherwise we will kill you

and...’

Aisha shivers and pushes the letter away in anger. Simon picks up the

threatening letter and continues to read.

‘...otherwise we will kill you and your family.’

‘Now do you see?' asks George.

Simon nods in understanding. ‘You left so that they would leave your family

alone. But who sent you the threatening letter?’

Uncle George shrugs ‘I’ve no idea. Someone who doesn’t want me to find

the source.’

‘Or perhaps someone who is also looking for the ultimate source of

energy?’ says Aisha.

It makes Aisha and Simon fall silent.

'What a lot of gloom suddenly!' exclaims Uncle George.

‘I’d like to see that electric car that you told me about.’

He takes Aisha by the hand and leads her outside.

‘Look, there it is. On top of the dike.’

Simon points to Sunny and runs towards it. George and Aisha follow.

‘Simon’s a little clumsy sometimes, but he’s really very smart,’ Aisha says

to George.

Simon pretends not to hear and gets in the car.

‘Look, Sunny doesn’t have a steering wheel. You drive through the bends

by tipping your body.’

Simon moves left so that the wheels turn that way. Uncle George looks at

the car full of admiration.

‘Nice car.’

‘Sunny’s an electric car. The engine is in the back. And this is the most

important part,’ Simon explains. He points to the front wheels.

‘These wheels are also the car’s batteries. They are solar wheels that you

can charge with solar energy. But when it is cloudy the sun does not shine.

Then it takes a very long time for them to charge. That’s why I’m looking

for the ultimate source of energy for this car. The source you were also

looking for before you were threatened by those scary people.’

George starts to whisper. ‘I kept working on it in secret. I looked for all

kinds of green energy. It was a long journey, but I don’t need to tell you

two that.’ Aisha nods and takes out the postcards.


‘We found you thanks to these cards.’

She hands the pile of cards to George. He takes them carefully.

‘We learned a lot on our journey, didn’t we Simon?' says Aisha. ‘That you

can get energy out of the ground for example. Or from the sea.’

‘But what is the ultimate source of energy?' Simon wants to know.

George sighs. ‘I’m still looking for the source. I’ve been everywhere and

studied every possible form of energy. But not one of them is the ultimate

one. If the wind doesn’t blow there’s no wind energy. And the solar

collectors don’t work at night. It’s always something.’

George sticks his hands up in the air in desperation. He drops the postcards

by accident. The cards land next to the car’s front right-hand wheel. George

bends down to pick them up. And then the look on his face changes. A

twinkle appears in his eyes. He picks up the postcards. He points to the

wheel with the cards in his hand.

‘That’s it! Your Wheel of The Sun is the solution. You can charge it with

solar energy but just as well with wind energy. Get it? It doesn’t matter

what type of energy you put into it, you have to combine the energy

sources. That’s it. It’s about the network of all the energy sources.

In one place you get energy out of an old mine and somewhere else you

get energy out of water. You drive from a windmill to a farm. From a coal

mine to the sea and back again.'

Simon nods. ’Why didn’t I think of that myself?’

Uncle George lays a hand on Simon’s shoulder. ‘It’s your invention, Simon.

Your solar wheels have shown that it’s possible. You have proven that you

can charge your car anywhere with green energy.’

Simon shrugs. ‘We just followed you. You found all the energy sources.’

Aisha cocks her head and looks at the wheel of the car. Now it seems to be

catching the sunlight.

‘The Wheel of The Sun, we’ll call our invention The Wheel of The Sun’,

she exclaims enthusiastically.

'Our discovery’, says George, 'because we did not invent anything, we

discovered it.'

Simon looks ahead determinedly. ‘I have to tell the professor and investors

about this discovery. Now they will want to sink money in Sunny.’


‘Wait a minute Simon,’ says Uncle George, ‘you have to present this

discovery in a very special way. Only then will people see that it is

something really special. Presentation: that’s what it’s all about. What do

you think, Aisha?’

Aisha nods. ‘We’re circus people. We know how important it is to put on a

good show.’

Uncle George raises his finger. ‘Brilliant. We’ll turn it into a special circus

show. We’ll present the discovery of The Wheel of The Sun at the circus!’

Uncle George pretends he is a presenter. He puts his hand to his mouth and

yells at the wind turbines. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to present:

Sunny and The Wheel of The Sun.’

Simon hesitates. ‘What do you mean by ‘we’?’

Uncle George carries on enthusiastically. ‘You, Aisha and I, together with

the circus.

We will present the discovery of The Wheel of The Sun. We will turn it into

a wonderful circus act.’

‘But Uncle George, aren’t you afraid that they will kill you now that we’ve

found the ultimate source of energy?’ asks Aisha.

But Uncle George shakes his head in determination. ‘This discovery is too

important. The whole world has to know about this. But you’re right, Aisha.

We have to be very careful.’

Simon drives Sunny back to the old windmill whilst Uncle George and Aisha

walk back. Neither of them speaks. The sound of the turbines and the

squishy grass under their feet is the only thing that Aisha can hear. Aisha

fantasises about how it will be when they get back home. She imagines

that they are all sitting around the camp fire. Simon as a guest, between

the clowns who are pulling his leg. The acrobats who can’t sit still and

mama who wraps a warm blanket around her. Everyone is listening to Uncle

George’s exciting stories and even Uncle Dirk is happy again. Everyone is

there except the knife thrower who... A strange noise startles Aisha out of

her daydream. She hears a droning noise very far away. The droning of a

motorbike. She recognises this sound all too well. It is the motorbike of the

person following them. Aisha squeezes Uncle George’s hand. He has also

heard the noise and climbs up onto the dike to see where it is coming from.

In the distance he can see a black silhouette coming closer and closer.

‘That villain knows where you are’, he calls down.

‘Quick, get out of here, that madman will be here faster than you think.’


Uncle George lives in an old windmill. Prezenti, Salti and Korodi

are modern wind turbines with three sails that are also called rotor

blades.

We’re going to take a very close look at those rotor blades.

Let the pupils work in pairs.

What you need

15 wooden skewers

15 straws ø 5 mm

15 corks

45 cocktail sticks

15 pieces of cardboard of 6 x 5 cm

rulers

pencils

pairs of scissors

rolls of sellotape

Preparation

Gather everything you need and make sure that all the materials are lying

ready on the tables.

After listening to the story, you can discuss the following with the pupils:

– What does a windmill or wind turbine look like?

– What does a windmill or wind turbine do?

– Which parts does a windmill or wind turbine have?

– Where do you find windmills or wind turbines?

ASSIGNMENT 2: MAKE THEM TURN (±15 MIN. + 5 MIN. DISCUSSION)

TIP


Background information about windmills or wind turbines

The advantages of wind energy:

Wind is a renewable source of energy that humanity has at its disposal

without limitation. Generating electricity using wind energy means that

we will use fewer fossil fuels, which means a reduction in the emission of

carbon dioxide. So it is clean energy. And we will also be less dependent on

the oil-producing countries.


– Why does the propeller turn this time?

Since the blades are now slanted, the wind pushes the propeller away.

– What direction does the propeller turn in?

That depends on the position of the rotor blades.

– Can you think of a way to let the propeller in the other direction?

Change the position of the rotor blades: slant them the other way.


The old windmills were used to pump water away or grind corn.

They were also used as hoisting equipment, to hoist the sacks of

ground grain to the loft of the mill. Today you are going to hoist

stones.

Let the pupils work in pairs.

What you need

the propeller from the first part

15 pieces of cardboard of 50 x 25 cm for the tube

15 pieces of sturdy cardboard of 17 x 17 cm for the base

15 nails

30 plastic bags containing different numbers of stones

15 pieces of thread or string ±60 cm long

scissors

rolls of sellotape

rulers

hairdryer

Preparation

Cut the thread or string into pieces that are ± 60 cm long. Gather all the

rest of the things you need. Make 15 bags with 1 stone and 15 bags with 2

or three stones.

Safety: do not hold the hairdryer too close to the materials or it will

get very hot. Some hairdryers can blow cold air, if so use that setting.

If the hairdryer cannot blow cold air, it may cut out as a result of a

safety feature. If so, let it cool down for a while and then it will work

again.

You could add a competitive element by timing the hoisting with

a stopwatch.

ASSIGNMENT 3: HOISTING STONES (±25 MIN.)

TIP

TIP


The straw must stick out at least 5 cm at the front, otherwise

the rotor blades will catch on the tower.


- How high did the bag with 1 stone go?

- How high did the bag with 2 stones go?

- How high did the bag with 3 stones go?

- Did you manage to hoist more stones?

If so, how many cm?

TIP


The previous assignment can be extended by offering more materials

to experiment how the rotor blades rotate best.

(plastic cups, plastic bottles, corrugated cardboard, etc.)

What you need

Hairdryer

Various materials for the rotor blades

Assignments

1. Design 2, 3 or 4 new rotor blades that you think will be the best to

hoist the bags of stones with. Your teacher will tell you which materials

you are allowed to use.

You have 20 minutes’ time.

2. Attach the rotor blades to the propeller. Attach the bag of stones.

3. Now use a hairdryer. Always hold the hairdryer at the same distance.

Questions

- How many stones could you hoist?

- Who hoisted the most stones?

- What did their rotor blades look like?

- Why do you think that those rotor blades were able to hoist the most

stones?

OPTIONAL

LifelongLearningProgramme

COLOFON

ColophonIssue 2014 Foundation Inventors | www.theinventors.eu

Concept and realizationAtelier Vrijdag

This publication may not be copied or reproduced without written permission from The Inventors

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held

responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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