The Holmes Elementary School in Mesa, AZ, has a pole-mounted solar electricity system facing south and generating electricity for the school. It is a 1 kW system and it is tied to the Salt River Project (SRP) power grid. For every watt of electricity generated by this solar electricity or photovoltaic (PV) system, it is one less watt the school will buy from SRP. But the primary purpose of this system is not to reduce the electric bill for the school. The primary purpose of this project is to use solar electricity as a teaching tool to help improve the students’ understanding of science and math.The project took several months from the original idea to scheduling the ribbon cutting, but it did not take too long. The process gave the students, teachers, and the school administration time to figure out a number of ways to integrate the solar electricity into the classrooms. It was a team effort and the teamwork paid off.

“We could have hurried the project, but there was no reason to rush it. We felt it was important that our entire school be involved in the process, and while nothing is perfect, we have gone a long way toward keeping everyone connected to the project,” said Principal Darlene Johnson. “We also want our neighbors to understand what we are doing and our parents and our local community leaders. Our school is at the center of the neighborhood and it is important to bring everyone into the process when we make significant changes, and this is definitely a new direction for us. Our school is now generating part of its own electricity. How many schools can say that?”

Katie Herring with SRP’s Environmental Initiatives department sees the working solar electricity system as only the first step in the process. “SRP has developed a renewable energy curriculum designed to go hand in hand with the solar installation. Providing a real world application of solar at the school will help connect and develop critical math, science and engineering skills for these students. This is such a great project from so many perspectives.”

Most of the electricity used at the school will continue to come from SRP power plants and flow to the school through the system of interconnected wires that makes up part of the US electric power grid.

According to Rick Michalek, Operations Director for the Mesa Public School District, “This is primarily an educational project. It will reduce Holmes’ electric bill by a small percentage, but everyone involved in this project understands it is intended to make science and math a little more real for the students and the teachers at the school. They will gain some valuable first hand knowledge of solar power production, which in turn may motivate them to learn more about alternative energy sources and energy conservation. I think that the wireless monitor is a great visual aid to enhance the learning experience. The students can observe the power production of the panel in real time, and use the recorded data to make historical comparisons and generate reports”.

Guadalupe, a fifth grade student in Mrs. Wilson’s class writes: What I think as a kid and student of Holmes Elementary is that the solar panel looks great and I believe other people will think that it’s a school doing very artistic and visionary kinds of projects. I also think it will be good for other students of Holmes Elementary to tell their perspective of the solar project. It would be good because the students of Holmes Elementary will learn about how natural energy comes from the sun. They’ll know that here in Arizona it is always sunny so it is a good place to have solar panels.

Elisabeth, a sixth grade student in Mr. Gibson’s class writes: As a student I think that the solar panel is a good idea for each staff member and student. As each student gets to know more about the solar panel, it will make perfect sense to them.

Principal Johnson writes: Teachers at Holmes Elementary are excited about the “real life” experiences the solar panel brings to our site. A field trip to the west side of campus provides lessons in science and math. This first hand experience with solar energy will open doors for our creative students to many possible alternative energy resources. The solar panel will “spark” the imagination and “peak” the interest of our students.

Things just got a little brighter for the Wothington City School system (Ohio) and eighth grade science teacher Kevin Swabb. Not only did Worthingway just complete another year of successful solar car races, but now students will be able to view data on the internet showing how much electricity the one kW solar panel array is producing everyday. As part of the solar car project, students receive two solar panels, 1 motor, wheels, and a selection of building materials for the competition. How they use the materials is the key to having a successful racecar. Everybody starts with the same basic equipment, but in the end each car is an original piece. Student interest remains as high as ever in the car building project as another year of races approaches!

As part of the solar car project, students learn about how the one kW solar panel array installed at Worthingway produces electricity for our school. The Fat Spaniel monitoring system was installed last year at Wortingway with the help of AEP, and will give students feedback about how the panels are operating. The panels are now connected to a new monitoring system that can be viewed on the web site: http://view2.fatspaniel.net/FST/Portal/ Check us out on the web for yourself and see how well our system is working! Eventually, our school will be connected via a new portal that connects our projects with those around the country and world.

Campbell Ridge Elementary School in Alexandria, Kentucky, held a Solar Celebration May 18, 2006. It was a full day of festival-like atmosphere while fourth-grade students taught lower grades about energy from the sun using songs, games, solar demonstrations and science experiments.

It all began when fourth grade teachers Dena Gosney and Stacie Levey attended a day of training given by the Kentucky NEED (National Energy Education Development) Project in partnership with Owen Electric’s EnviroWatts program.

The fourth grade teachers spent two weeks guiding their students as they learned the NEED solar activities. On the day of the celebration, the fourth grade students were responsible for teaching the second and third graders using the hands-on activities supplied in the NEED kit. The 103 fourth graders kept busy with over 100 second-graders participating in the morning and over 90 third graders participating during the afternoon session.

“The event was fabulous,” said Gosney. ‘Kids teaching kids,’ [the NEED motto] seems to be a way kids learn best. The students really did well and we got lots of positive responses from other teachers.”

Student hospitality guides Jordan (on left) and Christina escorted visitors around the school to the five solar activity stations:
1. Radiometers, solar ovens, solar balloons
2. Solar songs and dances (written and choreographed by the students)
3. Solar games (created and designed up by the students)
4. Videos on solar energy
5. Solar bead bracelets, photos using solar sensitive paper, thermometer experiments

In one of the photos:
Morgan (on left) holds a solar fan that cools off the Energy House made out of a shoebox.

Outdoor solar lessons had students floating giant solar balloons, baking cookies in solar ovens and making bracelets out of solar beads. In this picture students huddle around to take “photos” of their hands using light-sensitive paper. Inside students did solar dances with hand motions and lyrics written by the students. In another class the students played solar games with game boards designed and created by the students.

In the middle of the day, a special ribbon-cutting ceremony took place to celebrate the 500 watt solar panel installed at the school. The funding for the PV panel came from Owen Electric’s EnviroWatts, a program that offers customers a renewable energy alternative.

It was a full day of Solar Celebration “The students are still talking about it,” says teacher Dena Gosney. “The lower grade students are excited about being fourth graders so they can do it, too!”

Deanne Johnson is a teacher at the Gold Oak Art Charter School in Placerville, California. She facilitated a grant application to PG&E’s Solar Schools Program, which funded a 1 kW pole mounted solar electricity system that has been installed at her school. There would also be a real time data collection system attached to the solar electricity or photovoltaic (PV) system so the students could compare their generation of electricity with the generation of electricity at other schools around the PG&E service territory as well as hundreds of schools around the country and a few outside the United States. There would also be teacher training for her teachers.
It seems like a “no brainer” to apply for such a grant. To the many schools reading this who did not apply for such a grant one might ask “if it is such a ‘no brainer,’ why didn’t your school apply?” Applying for grants that may or may not come through is hard work and time consuming. Much like “extra credit” school work, not everyone is willing to make such an effort. Lucky for the students at Gold Oak, Deanne Johnson and her “solar team” were willing to make such an effort. The Gold Oak solar team submitted the application and the PG&E Foundation approved the grant. The installation was completed during the summer of 2006.

A team of teachers and staff from Gold Oak have administered this project, including Principal Sylvia Shannon, District Superintendent Dick Williams, Cameron Bennett and of course Deanne Johnson. Deanne Johnson is the Solar Program Coordinator.

Gold Oak is a fourth (4th) through eighth (8th) grade school and sits in El Dorado County in eastern California,  not too far from Lake Tahoe. The staff at the school that coordinates the solar program also includes Christie Clary, who teaches 7/8 science and math, Mary Gately, who teachers 7/8 social sciences and language arts, and Carol Kouklis who teaches music. Jo Hunter is a member of the administrative staff who will also be included in the solar team.

A mural was painted on the supporting wall of the stage deck with a mural designed by the arts students combining Native American design with the solar energy theme including social studies, science, math and the visual arts. The picture below shows a small piece of the mural.

A student at the school wrote this short note explaining the purpose of the mural.

Solar Mural
By Julian
“Some of the Gold Oak students painted a solar mural in honor of the solar panel. Another reason for the mural was to help show people solar symbols through out history. The solar mural was finished on Tuesday May 23, 2006. The students were proud of their hard work to make this painting.”

Other activities surrounding this solar installation include solar thermal ovens, solar art activities, a solar fair to replace the science fair and community outreach. This has been designed to help the students understand renewable energy and help the community understand more about solar energy. This is a wonderful project being administered by this small group of enthusiastic teachers, staff people, and students who want to improve their education and their community. It is a lot of extra work and it is not required, but it is making a difference at this fantastic school sitting in the shadows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. If you happen to be in that part of California, you might want to swing by the Gold Oak Art Charter School and check out the solar electricity system and the wonderful mural the students painted on the wall nearby. It is worth the trip. This Fall there will be a ribbon cutting; we will post the date and time on this site in case you want to stop by.