'Energy in Education' Group

Our group participated at 6th Technology Transfer Exhibition - Patras Innovation Quest (Patras IQ) which was held in Patras from 12 to 14 April 2019. Our participation was about a Renewable Energy Sources laboratory. The laboratory was open every day with the voluntary work of Psyllia Theopisti, Papoutsaki Maria, Ntriza Katerina, 3rd year university students of the Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education whom we thank warmly. Our participation related with our research group work on Renewable Energy Education in non-formal learning environments and is a follow-up of similar actions at the Patras Science Festival and the Achaia Fest. There was a great response, as during the three days of the exhibition many children with their families showed great interest and visited our laboratory .

IGasES  is an open-source educational simulation for the teaching and learning of the First Law of Thermodynamics (FLT) for ideal gases. It addresses upper secondary school students and university beginners. It integrates four levels: The tags of the names and short explanations of four thermodynamic processes: isothermal, isochoric, isobaric, and adiabatic. The tag is chosen with a single click. The digital representation of the above processes with the selection of expansion/compression or heating/cooling depending on the process (chosen by a single click). In order for the phenomenon to evolve, click the Play button (upright). The energy chain model of the selected process, which is a graphic representation of the energy changes the system undergoes. This field appears by clicking the Arrow button, down and left on the screen. In order for the energy chain to evolve, click the Play button (upright). The mathematical formula of the FLT (chosen by a single click, if no...

Our group participated at the 1 st Patras Science Festival ( http://www.patras-science-festival.gr/ ) which was organized by the educational organization SciCo and the Hellenic Open University in Patras (10-13 May, 2017). On Wednesday, May 10, fifteen students of the 1 st grade of a secondary school participated at the “Energy Lab". Small groups of students worked as " scientists in progress " on activities to address the problem of transfer and measurement of energy for lighting, movement and heating on simple technological systems. These activities prepare young students to consider both the scientific and social aspects of the crucial matter of energy use. On Saturday, May 13, Prof. Dimitris Koliopoulos gave a speech titled “Energy in Education” which was attended by teachers and university students. The subject of the speech was the presentation of the goals and the work of the group. We thank warmly the 3rd year university students of the Department of Educa...

ABSTRACT The main focus of this research is the developing of a computer simulation for the teaching and learning of the thermodynamic processes of ideal gases using the first thermodynamic law for the students of the second year of upper secondary school. The simulations aims to bridge teaching and learning for the above mentioned chapter of school physics. A series of fields have been investigated, as they interact with each other during the developing of educational material. On the one hand, the epistemological approaches and, on the other hand, the didactical approaches for the modeling of epistemological knowledge have been both scrutinized. Additionally, the research refers to the special advantages of the simulations for the learning and teaching of physical sciences and to the variety of simulations categories that came up through their practical use during the last decades. Regarding the simulation of the thermodynamic processes, the paper includes an analysis of its inte...

ABSTRACT This work refers to the organising principles and content of a didactical intervention (addresses to children aged 11-12) related to the concept of energy on large- scale electricity generation systems (thermoelectric power plants, hydroelectric power plants, wind farms, photovoltaic farms). These organising principles refer to: (a) the structure and the content of school knowledge of the teaching subject where we distinguish four levels of approach: the phenomenological, the technological, the scientific and the environmental level, (b) the constructivist approach of teaching and learning science which is based on the assumptions that children in the age of 11-12 years using the linear causal reasoning and the systemic thinking will be able to construct a semi-quantitative energy model that is proper to the description and the explanation of large-scale electricity generation systems, and (c) the pedagogical context based on the practice of problem situat...

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