Abstract:

Renewable energies are the key to climate change mitigation. Half of the energy needed in households is used for heating.
To educate pupils aged 10-14 on these key learnings a consortium of five European partners has developed educational materials in the ERASMUS+-project “our solartown”.
The freely available material focuses on the technology of solar thermal energy and begins with theoretical lessons on climate change, fossil vs. renewable energy and solar energy and heat. The process guide helps the class to navigate from this base toward planning a solar thermal plant to building solar collectors.
With this material students learn theoretical knowledge about climate and energy.

They also understand the administrative processes required to build a plant and get an idea of how such a project can be financed.
The planning tools give them insight that tools can support siting decisions with facts, yet there are other considerations that must be taken into account. The building process itself provides development opportunities in terms of craft skills and teamwork.
As the educational material is modular, it can be used without building as a stand-alone presentation or to simulate decisions in prepared role plays.

The material is freely available on the solartown.eu website in four languages and consists of an e-learning and downloadable material for classroom use, supplemented by instructional videos for construction and educational videos for further dissemination. The downloadable contents are

1) Lecture Energy sources
2) Lecture Solar energy
3) Lecture Climate change
4) Roleplay greenhouse effect
5) Quiz on climate change
6) Lecture Solar energy technologies
7) Site selection
8) Solar thermal planning installation
9) Roleplay Site selection
10) Roleplay Pros and Cons
11) Roleplay Financing a solar plant
12) Collector construction game
13) Public relations
14) Solar newspaper
15) Practical realization
16) Presentation of plant
17) Excursions
18) Implementation guide
19) Technical Guide

The goal of the project is to bring students in touch with solar thermal energy - a little known, but mature technology on a theoretical level and to teach them about the entire process of seeting up solar thermal plants. The aim is not to demotivate them repeatedly with frustrating facts about climate change, but rather to encourage the spread of this decentralized, CO2-free heat source and enable the students to make a long-term difference in practice.

The project included the test of the teaching material during two pilots in Austria and Slovenia, where solar thermal collectors were built by the students.
An annual Solartown Award will honour extraordinary school projects.

Keywords:

Renewable energy, sustainability, online teaching.