Finnish solar education program http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/envis/doc97html/ensolar113.html

Subject: a Finnish solar education program

Here is some info of a solar program with a solar cooker component. This
is not an official communique of the society but a personal description.

Regards,
-ari

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Finnish solar education program launched

Ari Lampinen, 2.11.1997 (DRAFT)

The Finnish Physical Society has launched a national solar
energy education program for high schools as their 50th
anniversary project called
S
C OOL PHYSICS
H
The project was planned to respond to several challenges:
* practical handicraft skills and both technological and
nature literacy are disappearing giving rise to unemployment
in society where increasing amount of income is based on
expertise instead of capital
* school education and society in general allows people to
get used to technology without developing a curious attitude
to aim at understanding of the surrounding technical and
natural environment; need for understanding is being
fulfilled by virtual realities and pseudo-scientific
substitutes
* technological infrastructure is a strict monopole of
specialist groups decreasing control and understanding
potential of people
* the image of physicist is often that of a bomb-maker
* the development of human societies tends to endanger
ecosystems and ultimately the societies themselves

As a response, the Finnish Physical Society is eager to
promote problem oriented environmentally conscious project-
teaching where pupils construct demonstration devices and
measure environmental and technical parameters, both manually
and using computer technology. The image of the physicist as
the problem maker is expected to change to the image of the
physicist as the problem solver by emphasizing the most
popular fields of physics, i.e. environmental physics,
information technology and astronomy. A gift physicists can
give to schools is the experience gained while teaching
innovativeness to graduate university students.

Our approach is in good concensus with many recent
educational research studies published in Finland (e.g.
J.Kantola, In the footsteps of Cygnaeus: From handicraft
teaching to technological education, PhD thesis, University
of Jyvaskyla, 1997).

SCHOOL PHYSICS is also a direct response to the challenge
announced by minister of education Olli-Pekka Heinonen to
improve scientific skills in schools by the year 2002.

The theme of the sun as the overarching focus will be used in
this project because:
* the sun is the cause of many natural phenomina; it
allows thematic teaching in a variety of fields from nuclear
astrophysics to meteorology
* solar energy utilization is increasing and, thus,
gaining more importance in society
* solar energy technology is easy to construct and
demonstrate; measurements cover a wide range of techniques,
from simple thermometers to UV spectrometers and computer
data loggers
* solar energy technology is one of the most important
means to solve environmental problems, by addressing their
causes

The practical steps of the project were the following:
1) New demonstrations were built in the spring term of 1997
at University of Jyvaskyla, Department of Physics, by
prospective physics teachers, both as a part of undergraduate
studies and as a part of postgraduate continuing education.
The following were done:
* a solar collector of an old room radiator
* a solar cooker of an old cucumber barrel, a cucumber
pot, a beer can and household aluminium foil
* a heat pump of old refrigerator parts
* an NTC resistor based thermometer for computer
measurements; user instructions for measuring various
parameters, especially pyranometer with a computer and
datalogger
* instructions for making a solar powered fan for a cap
* a UV meter calibration and user instructions for
measuring stratospheric ozone layer thickness
In addition, reviews of different solar energy technologies
and other sun related topics were written. These and
earlier student reports, by total of 18 students, equalling
a work load of about 3 MSc theses, formed the core of a 370
page resource manual. This manual was compiled for high
school teachers for easy access of information on solar
topics and of project ideas for high school pupils. The
student material was spiced by expert texts and technical
details. Part of the material is available in our WWW
showcase at (temporary location)
http://www.math.jyu.fi/~janpelt/solis/.html

2) Ten schools were selected as primary targets in May,
based on the recommendations of university departments of
physics. All physics departments of the country (7)
participated and they continue participating the process. A
training seminar was organized in early August for teachers
and university contact persons. Each school received, for
free, a solar energy measurement station, various
demonstration devices and literature donated by 16 sponsors.

3) A roadshow, i.e. a big van full of demos, toured the 10
schools, about 3000 km, 18.-29.8. 1997. Each school had
selected a subset of program numbers offered, i.e.
* a gas show of Science Center Heureka
* outdoor demos: cooking coffee and sausages with various
kinds (8) of solar cookers, listening to CDs with a solar
powered player, a solar collector with a PV pump, a solar
powered stirling engine, a solar balloon, a UV/ozone
measurements (sun allowed this in 9 places)
* indoor measurements: parameters of a solar collector and
a heat pump
* building solar fan equipped caps (440 were built)
* lectures
* weather satellite and weather station on-line demos
* computer systems for solar data acquisition
Total of 95 lessons were given by 10 persons (students did
much of that but senior university lecturers also took
part) and 8 professors from 6 universities opened the
roadshows. It was estimated that around 3000 people
participated in these events, including pupils of high
schools and elementary schools, teachers from roadshow and
other schools, university representatives, municipal
decision makers and press. Press coverage was abundant (15
articles, collectively more than 4 large newspaper pages)
and positive.

4) A national school network SOLIS (Solar energy in
schools) was formed and linked to international network
originated in Norway (ref. K. Hetland, E. Oterholm, Solar
Energy in Norway's Schools, Sun at Work in Europe, Vol 9, No
2, June 1994). Each roadshow school joined the network which
is actively offered to other schools as well. Currently 9
other schools already have joined and 25 are in a waiting
list. The SOLIS network will be coordinated inside of the
school system. Steering committee will have members from
universities as well. Details of the organization and funding
is being worked out with and at Ministry of Education.

In the SOLIS network school pupils will construct
demonstration devices and measure their parameters. They make
both manual and computerized measurements of environmental
parameters, such as solar irradiation; they build sensors and
make data acquisition and analysis software (current software
is 100% pupil produced).

Teachers and students will communicate nationally and
internationally via email, WWW pages and annual meetings.
Project competitions are organized for pupils. Project
abstracts and measurement results are sent to other schools
to be able to use them as a cradle of ideas for new or
repeated projects; this practise also serves as a motivation
for pupils because their work may have international
exposure.