Emerging Technology Institute - Training middle and high school teachers in alternative energy

Abstract

Making the nation's energy system greener and smarter will benefit the environment, the economy, and the workforce. Yet, a critical national shortage of skilled electric power professionals is expected in the next five years. This deficit could be stemmed if talented middle school and high school students considered such careers. Middle and high school teachers can play a key role in encouraging students to pursue careers in green energy. To be effective advocates, teachers need training to bring motivating green energy lessons to their own classrooms, sustain student interest with inquiry-based problem solving experiences, and assess the effectiveness of their efforts using valid research methods. The Emerging Technology Institute (ETI) is a collaborative project of Northern Illinois University, Rockford Public School District, West Aurora Unit School District, Rich Township High School District, and Harlem Consolidated School District supported by the Illinois State Board of Education. The main focus of the project is to provide middle school and high school science, math and technology teachers with hands-on interdisciplinary experience with faculty in state-of-the-art laboratories of alternative energy, nanotechnology, fuel cell, and modern manufacturing. The goal of the institute is to improve teachers' content knowledge and teaching practices in ways that increase the academic performance of their students and in ways that build capacity within their schools for continued, sustained student learning. This paper describes the alternative energy section in the ETI project. Fundamental concepts of electricity and alternative energy systems were taught using a green energy trainer. Topics include energy review, introduction to electricity, electrical circuits, solar energy, study of characteristics of photovoltaic cells, study of characteristics of wind turbines, data acquisition system to obtain data of voltage, current and power, electric power distribution and smart grid. Next, participants are formed into group of two to design and build a solar powered flashing light. Through the group design project, participants demonstrate understanding of relevant electric safety issues and increase their ability to design and implement alternative energy systems. Towards the end of the workshop, each participant was given a topic to research on and they made an oral presentation to the class. Problem-based, inquiry learning using authentic problems in alternative energy technology is applied to increase content knowledge of alternative energy and increase interest and awareness of alternative energy. Participants will become community leaders promoting alternative energy technology. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.