Georgia Magazine - September 2016 - 28

Solar power education for Georgia students BY MICHELLE SIMMONS Program Manager, Green Power EMC COURTESY GREEN POWER EMC 28 More online at www.georgiamagazine.org COURTESY GREEN POWER EMC A s solar power development accelerates across Georgia and throughout the country, many students in Georgia can now take advantage of a new curriculum and in-class solar learning laboratory through the SunPower for Schools program. Developed by Georgia's electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) and Green Power EMC, SunPower for Schools gives students the opportunity to monitor and study realtime data on solar energy production from solar arrays around the state. Most of these fully functional arrays have been installed on school grounds. Specialized software allows online access to Teachers in a training session measure output from a various solar output data solar cell under different lighting conditions. for all weather conditions, seasons and times of day. The pro- son plans covering four main areas: gram is designed to help students physical science, physics and chembetter understand the challenges and istry; math; life science, biology and opportunities associated with solar environmental science; and earth scipower production. About 40 middle ence. and high schools in EMC service terThe SunPower for Schools curritories around Georgia are partici- riculum is easy to use and requires a pating in the program. minimum of teacher preparation, but The SunPower for Schools pro- teachers are encouraged to particigram also includes a professional pate in one of the training programs curriculum developed in partnership that are held periodically around with the University of West Georgia the state. in Carrollton. This off-the-shelf proThis year, SunPower for Schools gram offers age-appropriate mod- has held training workshops for ules for middle school students, high middle and high school teachers at school students or both. Brookwood High School in Snellville, Supporting science, technology, Georgia College & State University engineering and math (STEM) stan- in Milledgeville, Lee County Middle dards, the program and software not School in Leesburg, the Performing only help students learn about solar Arts Center in Hinesville, Gordon energy but also provide a hands-on State College in Barnesville, the Georlaboratory to apply these standards gia Science Teachers Association antaught in Georgia schools. nual meeting in Stone Mountain and The curriculum includes 60 les- the Southwest Georgia Regional Edu- School officials and students joined with representatives from Walton EMC and Green Power EMC to dedicate the SunPower for Schools solar array at Brookwood High School in Gwinnett County in May 2015. cational Service Agency (RESA) Science Conference in Camilla. More than 200 teachers were trained this summer, doubling the total teacher participation in the past few years. Teachers who have used the program have been very pleased. "I love how these lessons are already in the correct format and are so easy to use," says Rose Rollins, a biology and life science teacher at Lee County Middle School. "There are so many connections across the curriculum in vocabulary-building as well as writing skills. Science and math are not isolated skills." In the coming months, SunPower for Schools will hold training sessions at the Georgia STEM Forum and the Georgia Education Technology Conference. To learn more about the SunPower for Schools program, call Green Power EMC at (770) 270-7900 or visit the website bit.ly/spfsgp. Teachers and administrators who would like more information about how to participate in the program can contact their local EMC. GEORGIA MAGAZINE http://www.bit.ly/spfsgp http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - September 2016