Grantee Research Project Results

2012 Progress Report: New Methods of Teaching Renewable Energy to Students

EPA Grant Number: SU835068
Title: New Methods of Teaching Renewable Energy to Students
Investigators: Jacobson, Mark Z. , Thomas, Emily , McDonough, Peter , Yeskoo, Tim , Hamann-Nazaroff, Daniela , Vogel, Laura , Arnold, Emily , DeBrito, Mariana , Shekhar, Veenu
Current Investigators: Jacobson, Mark Z. , Willman, Lindsay , McNary, Amanda , Thomas, Emily , McDonough, Peter , DeBrito, Mariana , Yeskoo, Tim , Hamann-Nazaroff, Daniela , Vogel, Laura , Arnold, Emily , Woogen, Sarah , Menon, Carishma , Shekhar, Veenu
Institution: Stanford University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: August 15, 2011 through August 14, 2013 (Extended to October 1, 2015)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 15, 2011 through August 14,2012
Project Amount: $36,500
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2011) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Objective:

Our
goal
is
to
teach
a
new
generation
of
students
about
the
fundamentals
of
global
warming
and
renewable
energy.
Previous
research
has
found
that
standard
outreach
approaches
require
time,
money,
and
flexibility
that
most
teachers
in
K‐12
classrooms
do
not
have.

In
response,
we
are
designing
a
new,
inexpensive
yet
effective
way
to
introduce
renewable
energy
to
K‐12
classrooms.
Rather
than
writing
how‐to
guides
or
curriculum
tools,
we
are
creating
accessible
prefabricated
lab
kits
that
teach
California
Science
Standards
with
themes
of
renewable
energy.


1. Develop
inexpensive
yet
high­quality
learning
kits
to
teach
kids
about
renewable
energy
and
global
warming.
 - We
will
provide
valuable
lesson
plans
to
teach
children
about
climate
change,
energy
efficiency,
and
renewables.
Raising
awareness
about
these
issues
will
eventually
help
us
change
and
progress
as
a
society.
We
believe
it
is
important
to
reach
our
audience
while
they’re
young,
getting
them
familiar
with
the
situation
and
teaching
them
from
the
start
the
solutions
we
have
available.
The
kits
will
be
inexpensive
and
made
from
local
and
simple
materials
in
order
to
reach
a
large
audience.
However,
the
kits
will
still
be
of
high
quality,
providing
students
with
meaningful
lessons.
We
will
also
have
more
expensive/high
technology
demonstrations,
to
add
value
to
the
lesson
plans.
These
special
materials
will
be
property
of
Tape
&
Scissors,
and
we
will
lend
them
to
different
schools
for
use
in
the
classroom.
We
will
start
working
with
grades
5
to
8,
and
expand
in
the
future
to
reach
more
elementary
through
high
school
grade
levels.


2. Learn
about
the
lesson
plan
process
from
our
expert
consultant,
Veenu
Shekhar,
founder
of
the
Silicon
Valley
Energy
Lab.
 - Veenu
has
significant
experience
making
successful
kits
to
teach
children
about
electricity
and
solar
photovoltaics,
so
we
are
learning
from
him
in
order
to
develop
effective
kits
ourselves.
We
are
learning
about
the
general
process,
particularly
how
we
can
go
about
meeting
curriculum
standards
and
getting
our
lessons
approved
for
use
in
different
schools
throughout
the
state
and
possibly
country.
We
are
also
interested
in
learning
about
the
type
of
lessons
that
are
most
successful
and
why.
Veenu
has
successfully
developed
pre‐
and
post‐lesson
tests
to
determine
material
retention
by
students,
and
we
will
use
similar
tests
for
the
lessons
we
develop.


3. Track
and
evaluate
our
effectiveness
to
improve
science
education
methods.
- Using
retention
tests
similar
to
those
from
Veenu’s
previous
work,
we
will
evaluate
the
effectiveness
of
our
lesson
plans
to
keep
improving
them
until
we
reach
a
successful
model.
We
will
find
out
if
our
lesson
plans
and
kits
lead
to
the
conceptual
understanding
we
are
aiming
for.

If
they
fail
to
meet
our
standards,
we
will
improve
them
according
to
feedback
from
both
teachers
and
students.

4. Interact
with
students
firsthand
and
participate
in
preliminary
workshops.
-
 We
will
be
personally
involved
in
preliminary
workshops
and
first
trials
of
our
kits
in
classrooms.
We
are
interested
in
working
with
the
children
and
observing
firsthand
what
is
effective
and
how
we
can
best
get
through
to
them.
We
will
work
with
local
schools
that
have
already
shown
interest
in
having
us
for
either
a
single
class
or
possibly
a
series
of
lessons.
We
will
also
attempt
to
set
up
some
kind
of
after
school
program,
or
even
a
special
time
or
day
where
children
can
learn
about
these
topics,
making
it
a
bigger
event
and
possibly
drawing
a
larger
crowd.

5. Ensure
longevity
of
project
by
preparing
teaching
tools
that
can
go
to
teachers
independently.
- We
will
be
able
to
provide
instruction
videos
to
go
with
our
kits,
showing
teachers
how
to
use
them
and
what
the
final
product
should
look
like,
giving
them
tips
along
the
way.
The
videos
will
prepare
teachers
to
use
the
materials
effectively
in
the
classroom,
giving
them
ideas
and
suggestions
on
how
to
go
through
the
lesson
plans.

6. Promote
awareness
of
renewable
energy
developments
via
our
website
- The
Tape
&
Scissors
website
will
be
a
great
place
periodically
to
showcase
schools
that
have
made
progress
in
renewable
energy
efforts.
It
will
put
successful
class
projects
on
the
spotlight,
and
share
past
success
stories
with
potential
partner
schools.
Additionally,
a
forum
for
teacher
discussion
will
be
available,
where
instructors
can
share
experiences
and
give
feedback
on
the
lesson
plans.
It
will
be
a
good
way
to
try
to
get
more
teachers
involved,
and
a
venue
for
valuable
ideas
on
how
to
improve
the
materials
we
provide.

7. Focus
on
outreach
to
underprivileged
schools.
 - We
plan
to
raise
awareness
about
global
warming
and
renewable
energy
technologies
throughout
different
sectors
of
the
population,
making
sure
we
reach
a
large
audience.
Specifically,
we
plan
to
bring
these
opportunities
to
students
who
otherwise
would
not
have
had
them
(since
more
privileged
schools
may
already
have
similar
programs
in
place).


Progress Summary:

We
have
found
that
it
is
possible
and
effective
to
create
technical
renewable
energy
kits
for
students
that
are
both
local
and
inexpensive.

We
strongly
believe
that
our
model
for
renewable
energy
education
will
be
successful.

We
currently
have
five
competed
lesson
plans
(listed
below
under
publications/presentations)
and
will
present
them
to
teachers
and
students
through
workshops
that
will
serve
as
beta
tests.



Future Activities:

We
will
test
students
on
their
understanding
of
the
concepts
and
will
analyze
the
data
we
collect
to
measure
quantitatively
the
effectiveness
of
our
approach.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

Teaching,
students,
education,
renewable
energy,
classrooms,
activities,
science
labs


Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

2013 Progress Report

2014 Progress Report

2015

Final Report