Institutionalizing solar energy education

摘要

As America entered the final decade of the 20th century, millions of people turned out to celebrate Earth Day's 20th anniversary. Environmental awareness was on an upswing, and as a result, environmental education became a priority across thecountry. Environmental education was making significant headway into the public school system, and recycling emerged as the vanguard of this movement. At first the exclusive province of school children, recycling soon became a household habit. As children collected cans for cash, they also taught their parents to recycle. In its movement from classroom to curbside, recycling "rode the school bus" to Main Street and, within a few short years, became institutionalized.In due time, some observers began to wonder if solar energy education could have the same impact on market acceptance that environmental education had on recycling. If so, could the same implementation strategy that served recycling so well work for solar energy? This strategy, one in which the educational concept becomes part of the regular day4o-day operation and function of the school, succeeded for two reasons:(1) schools adopted recycling programs not only for the value they offered in the way of environmental education, and(2) as a means of generating money for programs and equipment.The recycling paradigm exemplifies the lasting impact students can have on the world they are about to inherit and the role education plays. Recognizing this, the Arizona Department of Commerce Energy Office has adopted a similar strategy for its solareducation program. This programrecognizes that students need to be "tuned in" at an early age to the issues surrounding our energy choices and that, although problems do exist, there are solutions.In this paper, we demonstrate how our Solar Information and Education Program has evolved to the point where it has become an institutionalized, lasting part of the school experience for thousands of Arizona students. It is our hope that the solarexperience for our state's young people will duplicate the recycling experience of a decade ago, this time taking solar technology from chalkboard to rooftop.