Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: New Methods of Teaching Renewable Energy to Students
EPA Grant Number: SU835068Title: New Methods of Teaching Renewable Energy to Students
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 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:
The main purpose of our project was to teach the next generation of students about the fundamentals of 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 designed new, inexpensive, yet effective ways to introduce renewable energy to K-‐12 students. Rather than writing how-‐to guides or curriculum tools, we created accessible prefabricated learning kits and lesson plans that address or expand on California Science Standards. Specific goals of the project are listed as follows:
A. Develop inexpensive yet high-‐quality learning kits to teach K-‐12 students about renewable energy and climate change
B. Track and evaluate the success of the lessons and learning kits to improve science education methods
C Interact with students firsthand and participate in preliminary workshops
D. Ensure longevity of the project by preparing teaching tools that can be easily implemented and used independently by teachers
E. Promote awareness of renewable energy education via the Tape and Scissors website
F. Focus on outreach to underprivileged schools
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Here, the goals of the project are summarized. In addition, a website was created (http://stanfordtapeandscissors.github.io /) that contains the developed lesson plans. All four lesson plans and their required worksheets and attachments are available via the website.
3a. Develop inexpensive yet high-‐quality learning kits to teach K-‐12 students about renewable energy and climate change
We developed four learning kits and lesson plans to teach students about renewable energy and electricity. The learning kits are inexpensive and made from local and simple materials in order to reach a large audience. However, the kits are still high quality, providing students with meaningful lessons.
The four learning kits/lesson plans included background information for teachers, a complete lesson summary and recommendations, a summary of the curriculum standards that are addressed in the lesson, and worksheets and assessment tools.
The four learning kits developed are as follows:
1) Wind Energy Part I: Wind Does Work.
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the concept of capturing wind and measuring and calculating work and power.
2) Wind Energy Part II: Measuring Wind.
The purpose of this lesson is to learn to use comparative measurements and introduce measurement of atmospheric effects.
3) Wind Energy Part III: Making Electricity from Wind.
The purpose of this lesson is to observe the conversion of wind energy to electricity, building on knowledge of wind and electromagnetism.
4) Electromagnetism: Making an Electric Motor and Teaching Ohm’s Law. The purpose of this lesson is to observe the basic relationship between magnetism, electricity, and motion. It teaches about the basics of electricity; voltage, current, and resistance and how to measure them; Ohm’s law; the concept of electric components and circuits; and how to design a circuit so that a light bulb doesn’t blow up or become too dim. Four take-‐home exercises were developed for this, including one to measure resistance using a multi-‐meter, one to check battery voltage, one to measure current flowing through a resistor, and one to check battery connection.
3b. Track and evaluate the success of the lessons and learning kits to improve science education methods
Using pre-‐ and post-‐lesson tests to determine material retention by students, we evaluated the effectiveness of our lesson plans in test cases at two schools, an elementary school and a middle school, in order to improve them. With these tests and subsequent modifications to the kits, we estimated that our lesson plans and learning kits helped to lead to the conceptual understanding we aimed for.
3c. Interact with students firsthand and participate in preliminary workshops
We were personally involved in first trials of our kits in classrooms. Prior to using the learning kits with students, we held a workshop with teachers to obtain feedback and improve the lessons. We also worked with the students and observed firsthand what was effective and how we could best teach them about renewable energy concepts. With feedback from both teachers and students, we improved the lesson plans and learning kits in order to obtain the best-‐possible results.
3d. Ensure longevity of the project by preparing teaching tools that can be easily implemented and used independently by teachers
The learning kits are inexpensive and easy to make with local and simple materials. We produced on online lesson guide for two lessons to go with our lessons, which provided information teachers about how to make the kits, how to use the kits with the lesson plans, and what the final product should look like. Additionally, the lessons are flexible, allowing teachers to use a lesson for a single class or expand on the lessons with additional projects and/or related lessons and learning kits.
3e. Promote awareness of renewable energy education via the Tape and Scissors website
The Tape & Scissors website was intended to make available to educators the Tape and Scissors lesson plans, put successful class projects in the spotlight, and share past success stories with potential partner schools. In its current state, it serves as a platform for dissemination of the current lesson plans and can easily be expanded to host content created in the future. Additionally, the website has functionality for visitors to contact the website hosts and submit testimonials, tips, questions, and new content. The website has a low-‐level of maintenance that requires only a low-level of programming knowledge of a web-‐master. This facilitates continued upkeep. Future extensions of the website can also be created easily with only slightly more extensive programming knowledge.
3f. Focus on outreach to underprivileged schools
We raised awareness about renewable energy technologies at two schools, ACE
Charter School in San Jose, California and Soledad Middle School in Soledad, California. Soledad Middle School is a school with underprivileged students. The goal of the project was to bring opportunities to students who otherwise would not have had them. This was accomplished through classroom demonstrations, including work with 6th through 8th grade science classes at Soledad Middle School. The lessons were well received with the students, and it was proven that they could be taught on a limited budget.
The greatest advantage of the Tape and Scissors project is that it will remain in perpetuity online. Because hosting the project website requires no prolonged financing, the lesson plans and other materials will remain available to the public at no charge. A contact form on the website allows for educators to reach out to the original lesson plans in the event that assistance or guidance is needed.
Post-‐completion of the project, relationships will continue to be developed with both Soledad Middle School and other similar schools primarily in California, though work can be done with schools in other states as well. Access to the website will be facilitated by links on the Facebook sites for both the Stanford SWEP and Tape and Scissors pages. Specific districts that have been reached out to include: Livermore
Joint Unified School District, San Mateo Union High School District, and Soledad Unified School District. Contacts have been made in the event that educators in these districts are interested in using these lesson plans in the near future, though no specific plans have been made to do so yet.
Aside from making the web site accessible to the public and educators, another primary form of outreach has been reaching out to Stanford SPLASH
(http://oso.stanford.edu/programs/47-‐educational-‐studies-‐program-‐splash) to
make the lesson plans available for volunteers who work in sprints of one to two days for the program, reaching 30-‐90 students over the course of any given weekend. SPLASH offers generous need-‐based financial aid for students, which encourages participation by students from underprivileged schools. Additionally, SPLASH provides a platform for educators from such schools to test out the lesson plans before bringing them into the classroom.
As Stanford SWEP also has an existing partnership on select projects with Stanford Engineers for a Sustainable World, Tape and Scissors has also reached out to the Local Initiatives team to see if there is interest in passing along the lesson plans for use by their current group as well.
Conclusions:
We found that it was possible and effective to create renewable energy education kits for students that are local and inexpensive and provide technical information. We worked with students in grades 5 through 8 to test the lesson plans. These beta tests involved observing students and testing their understanding of the concepts with pre-‐ and post-‐tests. Results indicate that our approach to renewable energy education was successful. Students especially enjoyed learning through hands-‐on education that reinforces important concepts.
Another conclusion from the classroom demonstrations is that it is extremely critical to not only provide education for students, but also education for educators. Future work may involve generating video demos that instruct how to teach the lessons effectively. Instructional videos may include supplemental topical background information, vocabulary clarification and review, and demonstrations of how to correctly use the kits.
The lesson tools developed provide information about basic engineering concepts that can be incorporated into curricula easily by schools as an engaging alternative to textbook lessons on renewables. Further, the project website hosts these lessons in an accessible format for educators and allows for outreach back to the Tape and Scissors content creators.
Recommendations for future work include reaching out to other education-‐based student groups at Stanford University and other universities to both increase the content hosted on the site and increase use of the current lesson plans. On Stanford’s campus, two groups of interest are Stanford SPLASH and Stanford’s branch of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW). The website can host an essentially limitless number of lesson plans and could easily function as a hub for student-‐generated educational content.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Teaching, students, education, renewable energy, classrooms, activities, science labsRelevant Websites:
Stanford Tape and Scissors Website Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.