Do your students know where electricity comes from in B.C. and why energy conservation is so important? 

Our friend and colleague Dave teamed up with the Canadian Electricity Association to find out what kids in B.C. know about electricity. Dave interviewed six kids from the Lower Mainland, the Interior and the Kootenays including: Evelyn (age six), Kiera (age eight), Shea (age nine), Mira (age ten), Lachlan (age eleven), and Rhys (age eleven). Dave asked all six kids if they know how we create electricity in B.C. and turns out that all of them know that we use water to create electricity. Pretty impressive that they know B.C. is powered by water.

Dave was also curious to hear what these kids had learned about ways to make smart energy choices and save energy at home and at school. Here’s a few tips they shared:

1. Turn off the lights when you’re done using them
2. Close the fridge after you’ve gotten a snack
3. Turn off the heat when you don’t need it 
4. Use natural light instead of turning on the light

“Imagine if everybody across B.C. took those small steps [to save electricity]. That could make a big difference,” Dave concluded. Rhys knows this to be true and shared that it’s important to save electricity for future generations to use. We all need to do our part to care for the environment. This means taking steps to save energy when we’re at home, and at school. This could be as easy as hanging our clothes to dry at home or using natural light in our classroom at school.

Additional resources

For curriculum-aligned activities that explore where electricity comes from in B.C. and ways to save energy at home and school, check out these activities with your students.

Also, be sure to visit our Conservation Hub. It has lots of great power smart tips, videos and educational resources.

Activities that explore how we make electricity in B.C.:

• How smart is hydroelectricity (Grade 2-7)
• Power of falling water (Grade 2)
• The path of electricity (Grade 7)
• How a dam works (Grade 7)

Resources to help students learn more about concepts related to energy:

• Get power smart (Grade 4-7)
• "What is electrification?" video
• "How do we measure electricity?" video

Resources that explore energy use at home & at school:

• Energy at school (Grade 2-3)
• School energy investigation (Grade 7)
• Measuring electricity use (Grade 9)
• Home energy detectives (Grade 9)
• "How can we save energy with lighting?" video
• "What is energy conservation?" video

Quizzes to test the conservation knowledge of students:

• Energy conservation quiz (Grade 4-7)
• Our energy appetite (Grade 4-7)
• 20 Questions: Electricity (Grade 2, 3)