New Perspectives in Science Education

The European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC) is a no-profit institution that consists of 11 research institutes, mainly focusing on scientific and technical fields. As a part of the Scientific Communication group, EURAC junior is a project that includes a series of didactical and dissemination initiatives and aims at bringing research and real applications in science teaching, as well as fostering interest and curiosity of students into science, by getting them inside the research center.

Besides annual lectures, summer and winter camps, training courses for teachers, activities for science festivals and fairs, during the scholastic year we daily offer workshops and experimental laboratories for school classes.

Starting from current research projects and in close cooperation with the researchers of the Institute for Renewable Energy, we developed a set of activities to introduce high school students to the fascinating world of renewable energies and in particular solar photovoltaic.

School classes spend three hours inside our research center, most of the material is open source and can be easily reproduced and discussed later on in the classroom. The contents are particularly interesting for students, as it is an inter- and multi-disciplinary field of study, including e.g. mathematics, physics, electro-technics, geometry, optics, ecology, geography, informatics, chemistry.

The laboratory starts with a visit of the solar plant which is placed on the terrace of the institute. Students can observe the PV cells and see how the plant is built.

Afterwards they receive a general introduction on energy and photovoltaic, which is followed by a presentation of the different PV technologies, their characteristics as efficiency, strengths and weakness, etc.

During the practical activity students can autonomously simulate how to build their own PV system, choosing the cells and placing them in the right way. They can calculate the produced energy and the power of the system. They analyze economic and ecologic implications calculating cost of the plant, relative repayment time and final gain, as well as avoided CO2 emissions. For this task students use open source digital resources.

The workshop continues with a presentation regarding technical aspects of solar irradiation and PV potential and research projects are presented. A practical activity follows to explain students the spectral effects on the performance of different PV technologies.

The students conduct measurements, working both in collaborative group learning and individual exercises, and an experiment together with the researcher. In this approach, hands-on experiences and technical instruments are used to intuitively explain complex theory.

The workshop has been tested in several classes and teachers asked us to organize a training course in order to allow them to better integrate contents and activities of the workshop in their school programs. We collected a very positive response from teachers and students, they were happy to attend workshops and courses as they wish more contact between school and research institutes.