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KITH resources for teachers |
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To raise awareness of the consequences of using ever increasing amounts of fossil fuel and to introduce the benefits of using renewable energy, a handbook for primary and secondary school teachers has been produced. This handbook comprises two parts: a reference section providing background information to introduce the various generic themes and a modular section describing the different renewable energy sources and technologies. The reference section covers:
The modular section covers:
Each section of text is interspersed with practical activities to encourage learning by observation and deduction. Whilst the material can be selected as required, it is important to illustrate the linkage between energy usage, resource depletion, environmental impact and global warming at a level that the class can understand. ActivitiesActivities are planned to be the core element of each lesson. Every lesson should include one or more activities. These activities can be used individually or alternatively, they can be grouped together to generate not only awareness of the environmental problems associated with energy use, but also identify solutions which can reduce energy use. For each activity there will be
DiscussionMany of the themes in the handbook are open ended in that there is not necessarily an answer to the questions the students will pose. For example the answer to "When will the world's oil supply peak?" will depend upon how often personal transport is chosen rather than public transport. This introduces uncertainty as it depends upon individual actions. The activities have been devised to stimulate discussion based on observation and deduction and to illustrate how science can formulate answers to limiting climate change. A set of resources has been developed for use in both primary and secondary schools comprising activities for students, notes for teachers and background text for students to supplement the web text. These resources can be used -
Age range
Working in small groups
Role of teacher
Lesson plansThe KITH and TREAM (see below) activities can be grouped into lesson plans to explore specific themes which relate to topics in the National Curriculum. These follow the traditional format of a starter of say 10 minutes, a main activity of say 30 minutes and a plenary activity to reflect what has been learnt. A more detailed list of the contents of the KITH handbook can be found by using the link below. Energy savings in the homeAn earlier project entitled TREAM, an acronym for Transforming the Market for Energy Efficient Appliances, also produced a handbook for teachers. The aim of the TREAM project was to raise awareness for saving energy and in particular the potential for saving energy through the use of more energy efficient appliances. The potential for saving energy and other resources by using energy efficient appliances is considerable. The TREAM handbook too contains a set of modules and describes activities for use in primary as well as secondary schools covering a range of themes. These can be taught or introduced in a variety of ways to supplement aspects of a school's curriculum. Each module is self contained with background information and a set of activity sheets for students and additional notes for teachers. The emphasis is on understanding how the new information that is now available is able to characterise products and to choose appliances with a low environmental impact. The ideal is to encourage young people and their families to make a contribution towards society by using energy more efficiently thus leading to a more sustainable lifestyle. As with the KITH work, the TREAM handbook forms a contribution towards education for sustainable development. A more detailed list of contents can be found by using the link below. To receive a copy of these resources on a CD please contact the project coordinator at University of Reading, UK. p.m.e.lewis@reading.ac.ukr.m.mayer@reading.ac.uk
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