Comprehensive
Hands-On Multimedia Teacher Workshop:
"The Coming Renewable
Energy Revolution: Solar, Wind, and Hydrogen (Sky Power!)"
Dear Teachers,
This exciting and critically
important grass roots project-based interdisciplinary curriculum
is still being developed! Your experience, creativity and skill
are needed to help build sustainable curricula for a liveable world.
In 2003, 18 schools in Central California received grants for energy
education from the state with the help of Sky Power Institute. This
Fall, 4 more SkyPower teachers received BP grants of $10,000 each
to implement solar schools curricula. You and your colleagues can
be next to join the rising tide of educators implementing grass
roots best practices in relevant, inquiry and project based, sustainable
education for a liveable world. Teachers and parents have begun
learning and discovering with their students and local scientists
how to create solar schools that are healthy for kids, communities,
and the planet. We invite you to join us!
Joe and several of his colleagues presented the course outlined
below at the National Science Teachers' Convention in Missouri in
2001. Since then, the course has evolved, and is still evolving,
as more and more teachers begin implementing and adding to the project.
It's very important that our country and the world move rapidly
into developing and deploying modern energy technologies by harnessing
clean, renewable solar power and the related resources of wind,
small hydro, biomass, and geothermal. The increasing environmental,
geopolitical, and just plain dollar costs of our fossil-fuel and
nuclear infrastructure, make the abundance and democratic distribution
of solar energy an opportunity far too valuable for us to continue
passing up. A key contribution to realizing this goal will be made
by education and public awareness.
We invite you to join Sky Power Institute scientists
and educators who will introduce you to the exciting and enormous
potential - and critical environmental need - for transformtion
of our national and world energy infrastructure to the technologies
for harnessing wind, sunlight, water, plants ("biomass"),
and earth-heat ("geothermal"). Work with a solar/hydrogen
fuel-cell - harbinger of a prosperous clean-power future - which
generates electricity without combustion, producing pure water as
exhaust! Explore rich connections this topic ofers to ALL academic
diisciplines, highlighting important problems which motivate lifelong
learning and service for developing solutions. Discover how we can
sustain our planetary resources by promoting sustainable solar energy
education and practices around the world and in our own backyards.
See a slideshow documentary of an Earth Watch Project bringing solar
box cookers to rural villages in Kenya. Explore fun, exciting developments
in solar and hybrid transportation, and the sky-is-the-limit potential
for new invention. Resources for stimulating interest and supporting
work on these issues will be provided. Grants are available. Appropriate
for all grade levels, elementary/middle/secondary. Interdisciplinary.
Course Outline:
I. Overview of big problem and big solution - the latest
science and political-economic policies of global climate
change and other environmental effects of present energy use;
slide show/discussion surveying the spectrum of renewable-enery
technologies and applications; demonstration of easily constructed
picoturbine; fun,
relevant observations of sun/earth/sky patterns
II. Presentation of 2 or 3 activities from "Solar
Matters", an on-line upper elementary/ middle school
solar science curriculum unit; Demonstration of one activity
from "Solar
Wonders", a high school solar science unit. (Both
units align wtih the current National Science Education Standards
of the National Research Council and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science)
III. Solar energy as a source of heat and electricity; lab
activities investigating power output of a solar module and
the effect of shade on a solar module.
IV. Preview of secondary and middle school verions of a new
curriculum on hydrogen
as the ultimate renewable source of energy; lessons and activities
from the curriculum highlighting advanced hydrogen technologies,
and a fuel cell car. Incorporates national and state standards
for chemistry, physics, biology, science perspectives, and
history of science.
Come experience the future of energy!
Teachers'
Resources:
Northern
California Solar Energy Association
- Follow Links to RESOURCES
for EDUCATORS
Rahaus Institute
Solar Schoolhouse
Pitsco
Catalog - Hands-on Solar Science Supplies
Global Solar Partners
- Sustainable Energy Education
Rock-It Science - Traveling
Science Lab
International Union of Concerned
Scientists Conference on Global Climate Change at the Hague
(RealVideo coverage of these crucial climate talks)
Energy
Education Pages
Hydrogen Energy
Center
Hydrogen
Pacific
Hydrogen Fuel
Cell Kit
EREN
Open
Directory of Energy Education
Merit
Academy Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project
Rising Sun Energy
Center
NASA
Space Science Education
Earth
and Stars: The Magic of Physics in Nature
This course coincides with the peak of the Delta Aquarid Meteor
Shower. On Friday night, participants will meet at the top of Moro
Rock to watch sunset and moonset and observe twilight phenomena.
While waiting for the meteor shower, Joe will share mythological
stories and teach the basics of observational astronomy. On Saturday,
enjoy a moderate-to-strenuous 8 mile round trip hike to the Watchtower,
a breathtaking promontory, and on to some of the most exquisite
lakes in the High Sierra. Along the way, Joe will point out physical
phenomena such as waves and rainbows, whirlpools and shadows, bubbles
and crystals, echoes and mirages. A half-day lecture and slide show
in atmospheric optical wonders and solar energy systems will wrap
things up on Sunday at Wuksachi. A group campsite will be provided
on Friday and Saturday nights at Dorst campground. Participants
must provide their own food and camping gear. For ages 12 and up.
Fee: $90 ($75 for SNHA members) Fee includes camping at Dorst for
two nights. Friday-Sunday in July.
Sequoia National
Park
Sequoia Natural History Association is a non-profit educational
organization, the Sequoia Natural History Association (SNHA) is
devoted to aiding Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and
Devils Postpile National Monument through educational publications,
visitor and membership services. The Association receives no public
funds. Joe teaches a week-long summer discovery program in the
park. http://www.sequoiahistory.org
Recommended
Readings:
Audubon Field Guide To The Night Sky
The Friendly Stars
Light and Color in the Outdoors, M.C.J. Minnaert
Rainbows, Haloes and Glories, R. Greenler
Clouds in a Glass of Beer, C. Bohren
Sunsets, Twilifghts and Evening Skies, Meinel and Meinel
The Stars, H. A. Rae
Whitney's Star-Finder , C.A.Whitney
Quantum Reality, N. Herbert
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Burney Falls, California
©Bluebird Creek Art &
Design
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Waves
& Rainbows, Bubbles & Crystals, Whirlpools & Shadows,
Echoes and Mirages
Discover new ways to see and appreciate the everyday world of the
open air as we hike in various exquisite locations around California's
Central Coast and Mountains. We'll observe energy flows in the atmosphere,
and begin to see natural phenomena in a different light: waves and
rainbows, reflections and halos, bubbles and crystals, shadows and
whirlpools, echoes and mirages, rays, winds and waterfalls. Over
a picnic lunch, we may discuss critical issues in atmospheric science
policy, such as ozone depletion and global climate change, or we
may consider the origins of the cosmos and the evolution of black
holes, depending upon the interests of the group and the "energy"
of the day. If we have a clear blue sky, we may see Venus in the
broad daylight. Pondering the miracles of quantum reality encompassing
the whole cosmos as we play with time, gravity, and motion, we will
discover connections bewteen the world around us and the earliest
moments of creation.
(7 mile loop. Moderately strenuous) Talking rocks, sound mirrors,
ancient marine terraces, spectacular ridge top views, historic
miners' camp, oak woodland, redwood forest, pristine creeks and
spring fed pools.
The pristine watershed of Mt. Tamalpais is the "Little Yosemite"
of the San Franciso Bay Region. (10 miles. Moderately strenuous)
Big Creek, Santa
Cruz North Coast.
Experience the exquisite and breathtaking watershed of the wild
North Coast. We hike in the redwoods on private land up Big Creek,
with a stop at the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Hatchery and
an albino redwood tree, to a 100 foot waterfall. (4 mile round
trip. Moderate stroll, with a creek crossing)
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green
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Celestial
Viewing: Tall True Tales of the Universe
".....Thou
canst not stir a flow'r, Without troubling of a star...")
Explore cosmic ecology, and discover the universe as an interconnected
whole, in which "we are stardust." Watch for the green
flash in the spectacular sunset, and marvel as the planets and stars
twinkle into view and the earth's shadow deepens. While you enjoy
your coastal mountain picnic dinner, discover the pleasures of celestial
observation. Joe will regale you with tall true tales of the universe
and the folklore of the heavens, gathered through the ages by the
world's different cultures. Ponder the Big Bang and the evolution
of the Universe. Survey the lights, colors, motions, and phenomena
of the night sky, and learn about such wonders as nebulae, galaxies,
planets, moons, comets, occultations, eclipses, meteor showers,
aurorae, supervovae, and, of course, the constellations.
Hike through the coastal chapparal of Montebello Open Space Preserve
to Black Mountain, high above Palo Alto, with spectacular views
of the constellations of Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay, and
Mt. Tam. (4 mile round trip.)
UCSC Hilltop Meadows
Hike through the redwood forest of the University
of California Santa Cruz campus to hill top meadows with sweeping
vistas of ocean and sky. (2 mile round trip.)
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Slideshow:
"Atmospheric Wonders:
Light and Color, Fire and Ice in the Sky"
This is an invitation to observe and understand physics in the
environment, with beautiful pictures and interesting stories about
aerial phenomena from the common to the exotic, ranging from rainbows,
haloes, and sundogs to glories, mirages, the "mother-of-pearl",
or "nacreous" clouds (which play a part in the largely human-caused
depletion of polar stratospheric ozone), and the green flash. Did
you know you can see the shadow of the earth cast on the air in
our own atmosphere, at twilight? Have you ever seen a moonbow? Come
share the magic of this astounding image collection of atmospheric
wonders.
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...................©M.Pyykkonen
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