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2022 First Lego League Season: First Energize
Course Specific Resources
2022 FLL Season: First Energize
'Reimagine the future of sustainable energy and power your ideas forward.'
Sustainable energy is defined as,
"Energy that is produced using the sun, wind, etc., or from crops, rather than using fuels such as oil or coal which cannot be replaced *
Photo by Anders J on Unsplash
3 Steps to starting a successful research project:
-
Browse the field of Sustainable energy and select a a sub-topic.*
- *When you are first browsing, this is an ok time to use sites like Wikipedia for topics, overviews, and keywords that you can then use to find research.
- Learn the basics of your topic
(who, what, when, where, why), and identify keywords
-
Formulate a good question by identifying a controversy, problem, or puzzle.
Step 1: Browse and Pick a topic
Browse online encyclopedias for potential subtopics and keywords. *When you are first browsing, this is an ok time
to use sites like Wikipedia for topics, overviews, and keywords that you can then use to find research. You can
Online Encyclopedias & Browsable Resources
Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (browse by topic)
EERE Publication and Product Library (search available)
Renewable Energy Portal with - subtopics
Solar
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)- Solar Energy Basics
Solar Energy Technology Basics
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
Energy Kids Solar Basics
U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy Kids
Clean Energy Education and Professional Development
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Wind power
Wind Energy Technologies Office
Wind Energy Basics
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Wind Energy Maps and Data
DOE's WINDExchange
How Wind Turbines Work
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Small Wind Electric Systems
U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Savers Program
American Wind Energy Association
Energy Kids Wind Basics
U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy Kids
Hydropower
NREL's Hydropower Research – news and updates about NREL's hydropower studies and innovations
An Examination of the Hydropower Licensing and Federal Authorization Process, NREL Technical Report (2021)
Hydropower Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office (2021)
Hydropower Basics
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
How Hydropower Works
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Geothermal
Geothermal Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Energy Kids Geothermal Basics
U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy Kids
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Geothermal Program
Bioenergy
Bioenergy Basics - Bioenergy Technologies Office
Biomass resources - Bioenergy Technologies Office
Step 2: Learn the basics of your topic and identify keywords
(check out overview sources, such as encyclopedias):
BadgerLink online resources--encyclopedias
Wikipedia--Wikipedia isn't evil if it is used correctly. It is great for getting familiar with a topic, background,
keywords, etc. Then, use that information to find authoritative sources--often times the references at the
end of the entry will have a number of good sources you can explore.
Step 3: Use the keywords learned above to search a library catalog,
education or government website, or online news resource and
find an interesting problem.
For example: I searched 'hydropower problems' specifically in education websites by typing in the following
search in Google: hydropower problems site:.edu (the last part limits my search to just educational
websites.)
I then found an article from the MIT climate portal that discusses some potential problems with certain hydropower
projects. Perhaps, my First Lego League team and I can think of potential solutions or innovations that speak
to these problems in order to advance hydropower?
(News articles can be wonderful at this stage because they will identify very current, interesting developments and questions.)
Badgerlink Magazines & Journals (journal articles are difficult to read, but often magazines will have a synopsis
of the journal research).
--Try using: Mas Ultra, MasterFILE, Middle Search Plus, Primary Search
Winnefox Library System (Search for materials at your local library.)
Tip
Pay attention to dates (your topic has its own history; you'll want to know the latest state of it before you ask your question or identify a problem.)
Citations
Keep track of all of your research with an online citation generator or tool. Get the citation and place it
in a word or google document as you do research to save time. Check out these resources:
CiteFast -- a free online citation generator
These tools can plug into your browser:
Cite this For Me (plugs into Chrome browser)
PaperPile (plugs into Chrome browser)
Zotero (most powerful tool, open source tool--for advanced researchers, plugs into Firefox browser)
Competition Link
2022 FLL Season: First Energize
* (Definition of sustainable energy from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)