About hydroelectricity

Educational value

• This resource is very useful for the Australian Curriculum content descriptions in year 6 science about using energy from a variety of resources to generate electricity, and in year 7 science about some of the Earth's resources being renewable and others non-renewable. It describes how the potential energy stored in water can be used to generate electricity and identifies hydroelectricity as the world's largest renewable energy resource.
• The resource can contribute to students attaining the elements of the year 6 achievement standard about describing how energy can be transformed from one form to another, and the year 7 achievement standard about the way in which resources are cycled through the Earth's systems and how they can be used sustainably. The transformation of the energy in water captured in a dam into electrical energy is outlined.
• The resource is relevant to the sustainability cross-curriculum priority, particularly the eighth organising idea about designing actions for sustainability. It discusses maximising the benefits of dams originally built for other purposes and the use of hydroelectricity on a small or large scale.

Year level

6; 7

Topics Renewable energy Energy conversion Electricity Hydroelectricity Nonrenewable resources