Hands-on Renewable Energy for Earth System Learning

 

Exploring climate risks and sustainability through student-led solar and wind experiments

 

Keywords:

• Climate change education; Human impact on Earth resources; Inquiry-based learning; Natural hazards; Renewable energy

 

Renewable energy systems serve as experimental models to explore interactions between Earth’s energy balance, atmospheric processes, human activity, and climate-related risks. This contribution presents a hands-on, inquiry-based teaching activity for 10th-grade students (14–15 years old) within the Physics and Chemistry curriculum, aligned with the GIFT 2026 theme “Natural Hazards, Human Impact and Earth Resources: Shaping Life and the Earth”. 

Students collaboratively design, build, and test low-cost models of a solar oven, photovoltaic panels, and a small wind turbine using accessible materials. The solar oven serves as a central Earth system analogue, enabling investigation of solar radiation transformation into thermal energy. Temperature monitoring under varying meteorological conditions and design configurations allows analysis of radiative transfer, heat exchange (conduction, convection, radiation), energy conservation, and efficiency, while identifying energy losses and optimisation strategies.

Experimental results highlight links between energy systems and natural hazards. Variations in solar irradiance, ambient temperature, wind speed, and cloud cover illustrate the effects of heatwaves, droughts, and extreme weather on energy availability and reliability. Complementary experiments with photovoltaic panels and wind turbines involve electrical measurements (voltage, current, power) and basic data analysis, enabling evaluation of system performance under variable conditions.

Interdisciplinary connections with Geography and Citizenship Education foster reflection on human pressures, technological limitations, environmental risks, and the role of renewable energy in enhancing resilience to climate change. Designed to be easily transferable and scalable, this low-cost activity strengthens students’ scientific literacy, data literacy, and evidence-based scientific reasoning. It also promotes Earth system thinking and engagement with sustainability challenges. Clear experimental protocols, guiding questions, and assessment suggestions enable teachers to implement it readily across different school contexts.

Explicitly aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the activity contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), and 13 (Climate Action).