Tag: green

Class Activity: Take a Virtual Trip through Google’s Servers

Here’s a quick activity that you can do in your classroom to explore the topic of sustainable energy. It comes to us from Google.

Introduction

Ever wondered what happens when you send an email? How does an email travel from your computer to your friend’s smartphone across the country or around the world?

Take a journey with Gmail and find out. In this short video you will follow an email on its journey to see what happens once you send a message. Along the way, you will learn about some of Google’s efforts to minimize its impact on the environment.

 

Exploration

Take a journey through Google’s data centers by following an email along its path. Along the way, explore Google’s data centers with videos, photos and more. It all begins when you click send. Click on the image below to begin the online module.


Google Green

Google claims it is creating a better web that’s better for the environment. Google states, “We’re greening our company by using resources efficiently and supporting renewable power. That means when you use Google products, you’re being better to the environment…At Google, we’ve worked hard to minimize the environmental impact of our services. In fact, to provide you with Google products for a month, our servers use less energy per user than leaving a light on for 3 hours. If you add in our renewable energy and offsets, our footprint is zero. And we continue to find new ways to reduce our impact even further.”

Learn more about about Google Green here.

Educational Connections

Science – environment, sustainable energy, renewable energy, green

Geography – locate the nearest Google data center using Google Maps

Math – calculations regarding distance, time, rate

Language arts – write a sample email, follow the writing process to edit and re-write your email

 

Related articles

11 Yr. Old TED Presentation: What’s Wrong With Our Food System

“With almost unnerving precociousness, 11-year-old Birke Baehr explains the problems with our industrialized and corporate food production systems, and makes the case that we should all eat organic and local. If you weren’t already convinced that sustainable is the way to go with your food, have a listen to Birke – he’s quite passionate!.” (Source: Edutopia)

About Birke

“At age 9, while traveling with his family and being “roadschooled,” Birke Baehr began studying sustainable and organic farming practices such as composting, vermiculture, canning and food preservation. Soon he discovered his other passion: educating others — especially his peers — about the destructiveness of the industrialized food system, and the alternatives…Baehr volunteers at the Humane Society and loves working with animals.” (Source: TED Talks)

NASA’s Puffin: Your Personal Aircraft?

“Engineers from the NASA Langley Research Center unveiled plans to build a personal flying machine that would run on a set of electric motors. [Discovery News] reports on the aptly named Puffin, which is still in the early stages of development.” (Source)

Educational Uses

This video could be used to introduce a study on the principles of flight (Example Lesson Plan).

Learners could problem-solve how much impact the design of the Puffin craft would have if it weighd 600 pounds.

Challenge learners to brainstorm ways that the craft might be able to: fly 100 miles on a single charge, carry 2 passengers, and more.