Sun is Life –  Fostering competence in the topic area renewable energy interdisciplinarly in primary school

The nuclear phase-out in Germany has been decided and the modification of the energy supply towards more renewable energy sources such as water, wind and sun is in full swing. For a social acceptance of this development, raising children’s and adolescents’ awareness of renewable energy early is important. The project is a follow-up project of “Shaping the Future – Discovering Renewable Energy with Children” and introduces pupils of primary and secondary school to the field of renewable energy.

The interdisciplinary project consists of three subprojects:

Subproject I (working group Prof. Dr. Welzel-Breuer) develops and organizes professional development courses for primary school teachers and accompanies them scientifically (more information). The primary school teachers develop and test different possibilities to get the topic renewable energy to a level that is understandable for primary school children.

Subproject II (working group Prof. Dr. Siegmund) builds and supports partnerships between secondary and primary schools. It also develops educational materials and a guideline for teachers. During “energy lessons“, students of secondary schools are trained to become “energy-scouts”. The students develop concepts to pass on what they learned to primary school students.

Subproject III (working group Prof. Dr. Siegmund) measures the competence development of primary school students in the topic renewable energy. Based on a normative competence model, it is tested in how far primary school children have competences in the area renewable energy. For that a measurement instrument is developed and empirical tested.

Experimental set-up solar energy

Project start: 2014

The project is sponsored by the VRD Foundation for Renewable Energies and the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU).