Greenhouse education: Just Hot Air?

Abstract

One approach to increasing the interest in science at schools is to show how science and technology relate to human or societal issues. Climate change as a result of the Greenhouse Effect and renewable energy are two issues which have strong links to the physical sciences and interest can be generated by relating the solution of environmental issues to the need of sound science training to comprehend these problems.The Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE) was established by the Commonwealth Government to promote renewable energy and greenhouse gas abatement technologies. As well as research and development programs aimed at realising the widespread implementation of alternative energies, ACRE sees itself as having an important role in the communication of information about these technologies to the public and school students. This paper will look at some of the solar energy and greenhouse gas workshops and their outcomes, that have been developed and trialed by the Schools and Community Education project within ACRE in Western Australia, to help motivate interest in the physical sciences, technology and the environment. INTRODUCTIONThe Greenhouse Effect is one of those subjects which children find difficult to grasp. Studies by Boyes et al. (1993) and Rye et al (1997) have shown that students in the upper primary and lower secondary age groups readily confuse the causes and consequences of the enhanced greenhouse effect with the thinning of the ozone layer and ultraviolet radiation. Similarly the effect is often dismissed simply because 'it doesn't feel like it's getting hotter'.