A web based approach to teaching the subject “renewable energy sources” in technical Vocational educational schools in greece Using the elearn web platform

Abstract

During the last years, computers have found their way into Greek secondary education. At the same time, environmental education has also received special attention in both primary and secondary education, due in part to the cross-disciplinary curriculum introduced. This paper presents a web based course on ‘Renewable Energy sources’, created through the ELearn platform, for the use of students in Technical Vocational Educational Secondary Education Schools (TVE).The course presented in this paper is part of a larger project, commissioned by the Greek Manpower Employment Organization to supplement specific aspects of the curriculum taught at TVE with web based courses. The course consists of five autonomous chapters, selected from the relevant textbook taught in TVE. The first covers general principles and concepts relevant to renewable energy sources, while the second focuses on solar energy and its applications. The third presents hydraulic and wind energy, the fourth geothermal energy and biomass and the fifth discusses hydrogen production, fuel cells and nuclear energy. Each chapter is structured in the following way: a) A short treatment of the relevant theoretical background b) A series of virtual experiments and/or simulations and c) A series of self-rating exercises. We conclude with the presentation of preliminary results concerning the use of the platform, which show an improvement in both students’ attitude towards the course and their general rating in each sub-unit. We also place the course in relation to other vocational and environmental web courses.