Renewable Energy Project
The National Curriculum for 2000 onwards has just been modified and the sections for Science and Geography have been changed as follows:
Science
The section of science dealing with everyday life is to be integrated into the main programme of study to ensure that all teachers cover it. Investigative science is strengthened in a section renamed Scientific Enquiry.
Geography
Sustainable development is explicitly included for the first time.
These are significant changes to the National Curriculum and they could be very effectively and usefully met by teaching children about renewable energy.
The aim of the Renewable Energy Project is to provide teachers with the teaching resources to do this. In the area of energy supplies we are beginning to see what will probably be the final energy transition on Earth. In the next 30 years, starting now, we will change from fossil fuels and nuclear power to renewable energy sources. The key to this change is the development of hydrogen as a clean fuel and energy carrier. Today's children will need to have a background in the technologies involved as it will change the way we live our lives. By the time they are adults they will need to make informed choices and will not have the experience of the older generation to draw on. In fact it will be the older generation who will rely on them to deal with the change as has been the case, for example, with computers. Teachers in schools can prepare children for this change and the Renewable Energy Project described here is intended to help them achieve this important task
The Schools section of Hydrogen Powered World will provide teachers in primary and secondary schools with the information and teaching resources needed for this project. The material will fit within the National Curriculum requirements and so will be an attractive option for teachers planning work in science and geography. The teaching material will be provided at all levels to enable children to pass through school from infants to age 16 building on their previous knowledge which is part of the whole programme. One year's work will prepare the child for the next, and so teachers will find that children coming to them through the system will have a shared background of knowledge that supports the work in the year they are teaching.
The Renewable Energy Project is the core activity and will prepare children for the changes that are going to come in their adult lives. The two other subject areas, Climate Change and Energy Resources will illustrate the need for change. The material presented will help the teacher put the Renewable Energy Project in the context of the problems facing the world such as atmospheric pollution and global warming and rising sea levels. The Energy Resources section will illustrate that the world has the resources for overcoming these problems if we organise our lives in a sustainable way. The section called Basics will provide some of the tools and required knowledge of science and mathematics to support the Project by providing quick reference on site "help" information linked into the Project when needed to maintain the momentum of the main project work.
We hope that you are interested in the Renewable Energy Project and you are invited to register using the online form below, or you can email a copy of the form giving the information requested. Membership of the Project is free. All the information will be online on the site but there will be off site services, for which registration is necessary, for example renewable energy project site visits, lectures, special teaching materials, video loans and a help line.
In the comments box below, please add any other information you think relevant eg: one, or preferably two, contact names. If a secondary school, please indicate if contacts are science or geography teachers. Also, please describe how Internet access is organised at your school and what IT facilities you have.
Contact
Email: hydrogen@hydrogen.co.uk
Post: The Clean Energy Educational Trust
The Renewable Energy Project
66, Dartmouth Road London NW2 4HA
Manager Peter Chambers
Web site Manager Jill Norris
hydrogen@hydrogen.co.uk
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