Sara Mitchell’s fifth grade classes had the chance to learn about energy sources using pennies and pasta. While in class, the students had to choose what group they wanted to be in: one, two, three, four, or five. Each group represented a generation, with one being their grandparents and five being their children's children.

Mitchell threw a collection of pennies and dried pasta on the ground to represent the available resources. In order of groups, the students had 30 seconds to pick up as many pennies and pieces pasts as possible. At the end of each round, Mitchell would keep the pennies but return the pasta to the ground for the next generation to collect and would not explain why she was keeping the pennies.  

After every ‘generation’ had a round of collecting resources, they discussed why the pasta kept coming back like renewable resources and that the pennies were harder to find for the fifth generation because they were nonrenewable and were running out.  

Mitchell wanted her students to see what is constantly happening in our world, even though we do not necessarily notice it happening. They also talked about why alternative energy sources are becoming more important.  

The students really enjoyed the activity because they had to figure out what was happening in real time.