Learning: Explore Renewables

CfDR was commissioned by NaREC (New and Renewable Energy Centre) to develop a concept of a Solar Thermal demonstrator unit or ‘Trolley’, with accompanying teaching materials. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of renewable energy in schools, and particularly solar thermal as an efficient and economical means of producing energy by heating water. Every secondary school in the North East will be provided with their own Trolley and teaching materials.

CfDR worked closely with a local school in the development of the trolley and its accompanying curriculum materials. My team in particular, worked on the curriculum materials which comes in the form of a CD-ROM. It contains teaching materials to help secondary teachers incorporate the Trolley into their scheme of work. 24 different activities have been developed mainly for use in Science, Geography, Maths and Design & Technology classes – although the activities are suitable for use in other subjects too. The activities come with printable worksheets, animations, interactive exercises and guidance on differentiation for higher/lower ability students. An accompanying website that enables schools to share data collected through their trolley was also developed.