Students in chemistry were assigned a project that involves studying different energy sources. Every student was in a group of two to three and students could choose from solar, wind, coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower. Students were then given three class periods to finish their poster, and eventually participated in a gallery walk to decide what energy source Columbia should invest in.

On the first day, students did research and answered six required questions. On the second day, students constructed their poster that included all of the required information and portrayed organization. On the third day of the project, students participated in a gallery walk of the posters and then wrote a paragraph about which energy source they thought would be best to invest in for Columbia.

Sophomore Jaylie Echternach was assigned hydropower energy for her project. After the gallery walk and learning about all of the different types of energy, Echternach decided that hydropower would be the best source of energy to invest in.

“I decided that hydropower was the best one just because it reuses the water so that we aren’t wasting any water and it’s cheaper,” Echternach expressed.

Sophomores Sarah Duff and Marissa Moore both researched solar energy for their project. Similar to Echternach, they both decided that the energy source they researched was the best source of energy to invest in.

“I researched solar energy and I also decided solar energy would be the best choice because it’s basically the only renewable source we can use in Missouri,” Duff stated.

Moore shared a similar reasoning behind her choice of solar energy.

“I decided to invest in solar energy because it’s the only source that’s sustainable and can be used in Columbia. We don’t have the place for anything else that’s environmentally sustainable. Solar panels are also cheap in the long run and provide fairly efficient energy,” Moore explained.

Moore and Duff also stated that they learned a lot about the chemical reactions that go into different types of energy.

Echternach, Moore, and Duff all agreed that this should be a project that is continued in the following years because it allows students to learn a lot in an efficient way.