Just saw this from the good folks at “Curriculum Matters”
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2009/09/ener.html
|
|||||
|
On July 30th, the Energy Systems Laboratory participated in a novel program for pre-engineering students from Texas A&M International University Working in close cooperation with the Mechanical Engineering Department in the College of Engineering, ESL presented two laboratory competitions for the students. The first was the construction of a water wheel. The wheel’s performance was measured in terms of power and efficiency. The second competition was the construction of an efficient wall unit that was measured in terms of heat transfer as a function of mass. When conducting our “in situ” field trip to the Davilla school, Mr. Jon Carroll, a BISD electrician brought along a Foward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) camera. This device is used to evaluate where thermal energy (heat) is leaking. We used it to better understand the thermal performance of windows, doors and lights. We also took a group picture using the camera. Note some of the pictures of the IR camera being used to take the very pictures you see here. Our favorite are the group pictures taken in both visible and IR light.
Or rather we might say we are close to theirs. This New Zealand program has a lot to offer: The following was executed by the teachers and the students responded directly. A more formal assessment is being evaluated.
Which of the following design activities did you enjoy the most?
Which of the following lab activities was your favorite?
Which of the following lab activities was your least favorite? Why? <no answers !>
Detroit News, Mr. Bjorn Lomborg There was a news item that came across my email courtesty of Alliance to Save Energy. It was an OpEd piece from the Detroit News. It talked about the need for adults to speak carefully and accurately about Global Warming. It pointed out that most US and UK citizens don’t believe humans are responsible, yet many many children think we are all going to die. We were aware of this concern during Camp Energy, and to the best of my knowledge we didn’t address it - on purpose. We felt it was more important to focus on that which the students could change at a young age, than that which we must change before it is their turn to run things. The article also reminded me of the deep despair I felt when growing up in the 1970’s and 1980’s concerning the huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons held by the USSR and the USA (and that didn’t even count France, England, China, India, Pakistan and possibly one other country in the middle east). Bottom line, let’s focus on education and actionable training. The increasing number of Polar Bears deserve as much. The Batt tooks some nice shots of the students learning at Camp Energy last week: Today, like all Camp Energy days, was busy. The students raced cars, used the sun to cook lunch, and presented their houses to the judges. At the end of the day they received their awards. The students also completed their post assessment, which we will be evaluating and posting here in preparation for the next phase of the ISEEBI project. It was also a great to host five news media this week. They were:
First, I’m pleased that we haven’t had any disasters with the activities, students, nor teachers. Some things happened late, some activities where implemented differently then planned, but in all cases, the students saw the intended outcome. They are most excited when they are engaged individually, and less so in groups. Considering the student’s attention span is “measured in minutes equal to their age”, we managed to keep all but one really engaged (of the 30 students who showed up on day 1). One of the many objectives of the Camp is to evaluate the activities for use in the classroom next year. To that end we’ve made some discoveries. This material is best for the 6th grade. That the hands on experiments need to be “cloned” so that enough equipment is available to have an entire school do the activities on the same day. Thus three material stands won’t work. We’ll need on the order of 21 to 30 for the typical BISD middle school (3 classes of 30 students). Beside the cost, the setup and storage time are concerns. I think the only way to do this effectively will be to provide ONE setup for the teacher to demonstrate in class, and then virtualize a more extensive version for the students to do on their computers. I keep seeing the Muppet (TM) scientist in his lab, but online using Flash technology….. The teachers are taking lots of notes to provide feedback for “next year” and we have a pre/post assessment for the students as well. Informal discussions indicate that the students are going home and telling friends and family about what they learned … |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2009 Energy Systems Laboratory - All Rights Reserved. RSS Feed |
|||||
