We were thrilled to recently be asked to facilitate a workshop from our RPC educational trailer, at Nimbin Central School’s Science Week. To coincide and as a ‘take-away’ for the youngsters we did up a fun and informative 16 page worksheet.
A lot of younger people come into the shop, and we have had enquiries from home schoolers wanting to do a walk-through lesson at the RPC premises; the worksheet we have made would be a great start, and a great addition to, any kind of solar educational tour.
With questions (and answers) like; what is solar power? How does solar power convert to electricity? How much power does my family use? Introducing components i.e. panels, batteries, inverters and the like as well as some common terms in the renewable energy industry i.e. “grid-connect”, “stand-alone”, “watt-hours”, “photovoltaic”, and “self-consumption”. A fun activity they can do is design a solar power system for their own home! And they also get an assignment to read their energy meter at home (with supervision), if they live on the grid.
Fun colouring in, cross words, quizzes, QnA, and freestyle drawing activities to entertain, involve and educate. Maybe the child in you would like to have a go at the worksheet? We all know the meditative qualities of colouring in and drawing and I have tested it out- it is a nice way to while away a few hours. Doing it together with a youngster is a nice home schooling addition as well as a rewarding lockdown stay-at-home activity. The worksheet can be re-visited and done a second or third time to reinforce the lessons within.
There will come a time when electric bikes and cars are common place (RPC in fact now have our own Tesla model 3 car and 4 of our employees arrive at work on their electric bikes), and now that solar powered homes are the norm and power from the sun is the accepted and encouraged #1 source of energy, why not get youth to the front of the class by giving them a heads up about renewable energy in one of the more fun and rewarding ways; learning together while colouring in and freestyle drawing your solar powered car, home or planet of the future!
The loveliest thing is seeing a whole bunch of tiny school youngsters perched on the little hill outside RPC, eagerly listening in to every word our class leader says, as they learn about solar power from the Australian forefathers of renewable energy- I can only hope their faces are nearly as joyous and happy as they do our worksheet with a friend or family member. I hope this is a good addition to someone’s learning/home schooling or lockdown.