The project purpose of “Design the Future with Solar Energy: Solar Curriculum Project” is to create solar curriculum for grades 6-12 that includes fun hands-on learning to inspire students to think creatively about solar energy innovation and sustainable transportation. This seed grant will be used to research, design, and field test 5 solar curriculum chapters. The chapters include Chapter 1 – Solar 101, Chapter 2 – Solar Panels, Chapter 3 – Basic Circuits and Batteries, Chapter 4 – Solar Mobility & Careers, and Chapter 5 – Hands-on Learning. Each chapter will have a teacher’s guide, introduction, powerpoint, and hands-on activity. The solar chapters will be open-source and free for educators to download and try.
Feedback and additional ideas will be welcome from early curriculum testers. Curriculum testing partners will be contacted to review the curriculum like the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Exploratorium Museum, Barefoot College in India, y-plan Berkeley and the SMUD Solar Sunflower program.