Objective
Students will be able to:
- describe how batteries work (at a basic level).
- explain efforts to improve batteries.
- analyze how technological improvement can impact productivity and efficiency.
Concepts
In this lesson from the Eco-Economics: Energy and the Environment curriculum, students will simulate how batteries operate and analyze future improvements to batteries to explain how they can improve productivity.
Description of the lesson
Students participate in an interactive simulation that demonstrates how batteries operate. After discussing how the productivity of batteries has improved, students participate in three mini-skits, with corresponding discussions, to see how various parties are trying to improve batteries or use them in more creative ways in the future.
Economics
The global market for batteries is valued around $105 billion USD and growing as batteries become an increasingly important part of modern technologies in fields like automotive, healthcare, and renewable storage. This lesson will focus on how batteries improve productivity–the amount of output related to one unit of input during a specific amount of time and economic efficiency–the degree to which waste is minimized in production of a good or service and how enhancements to batteries could increase productivity and efficiency over time.
Resources