Solar+system+work

Today I was working on the worksheet for the Solar Energy System group for our visit to the 3rd graders. It was a lot of fun and informative (for me) to do some research on solar energy and make some diagrams demonstrating solar energy. I think it is interesting that there are two ways solar energy can be used--passively and actively. I hope that this is a concept the 3rd graders can grasp. As an architecture student, we talk a lot about passive vs active strategies and the benefits of each. While I think it may be hard for the 3rd graders to understand the relationship between passive solar energy to make a green house work, and active solar energy to generate electricity, I think it is good to show both, and they will at least be able to understand that the sun is responsible for both.