Article pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
SolEn for a Sustainable Future: Developing and Teaching a Multidisciplinary Course on Solar Energy To Further Sustainable Education in Chemistry Sonja Pullen† and Katharina Brinkert*,‡ †
Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratories, Uppsala University, Box 523, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden Department of Life Sciences, Molecular Biosciences, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: The high demand for the integration of sustainable topics into university curricula presents new challenges for the way chemistry is traditionally taught. New teaching concepts are required that consider and connect different disciplines to achieve a higher student awareness of the importance of these topics for humanity, the environment, and the future of our planet. This article describes a uniquely multidisciplinary graduate course on solar energy; the course may serve as an example of how to incorporate sustainable topics into chemistry programs, and as a starting point from which to build for others. It combines different scientific, industrial, political, and humanitarian approaches to the topic and provides a broad overview of one of the main future energy resources. New teaching methods are introduced, combined, and evaluated with respect to their effectiveness for a sustainable education within science and, in particular, chemistry. The success of this new course concept is demonstrated by high student satisfaction in a trial course evaluation and impressive exam results. KEYWORDS: Graduate Education/Research, General Public, Continuing Education, Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary, Environmental Chemistry, Collaborative/Cooperative Learning, Problem Solving/Decision Making, Curriculum, Learning Theories
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year 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy by the Division for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, the excerpts above are more important than ever. Educational institutions such as universities and schools are aiming for new teaching methods and concepts which fulfill this task successfully.2,3 New courses are required for teaching natural sciences, which focus increasingly on adjacent disciplines, examples of industrial applications of the different topics, their political relevance4,5 and their impact on society and our environment.6−9 With interactive and multimedia approaches, the courses should support a critical and reflective way of thinking, refer at the same time to the participants’ educational and cultural background and arouse their curiosity and interest for the topic matter.5 These new course concepts require collaboration between faculties, as Moore previously described: “Cross-disciplinary teaching is something that neither chemists nor biologists can do alone, and it is perhaps the most difficult aspect of improving [...] education in science”.3 With this article, we would like to give an example of a course, which focused on fulfilling these requirements: “SolEn for a Sustainable FuturePerspectives on Solar Energy from Science, Industry and Policy” is a newly established graduate course, which was carried out for the first time in collaboration of the Center for Sustainable Development and the Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratories, at the Uppsala University, Sweden, in spring 2012.
genda 21, also known as the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development established by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, states its objective in Chapter 36 on Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training:1 To promote integration of environment and development concepts, including demography, in all educational programs, in particular the analysis of the causes of major environment and development issues in a local context, drawing on the best available scientific evidence and other appropriate sources of knowledge, and giving special emphasis to the further training of decision makers at all levels. Activities, meeting this objective, are proposed further in the following paragraph; among others:1 Educational authorities should promote proven educational methods and the development of innovative teaching methods for educational settings. [...] Cross-disciplinary courses could be made available to all students. Existing regional networks and activities and national university actions which promote research and common teaching approaches on sustainable development should be built upon, and new partnerships and bridges created with the business and other independent sectors, as well as with all countries for technology, know-how, and knowledge exchange. With the declaration of the years 2005−2014 as a worldwide Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the © 2014 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: May 13, 2014 1569
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WHY A MULTIDISCIPLINARY AND MULTICULTURAL GRADUATE COURSE ON SOLAR ENERGY? The rapid depletion of oil reserves and the increase of anthropogenic CO2 emissions by the combustion of fossil fuels, exacerbating global warming, provoke the main challenges in the 21st century: the search for alternative energy sources. Solar energy is widely accepted to be the most abundant and accessible renewable energy source: every hour, 140,000 TW of solar energy (International Energy Agency, IEA, 2010) reaches the earth’s surface. This is enough to cover the current energy demand for a year. In contrast to geothermal, wind, and hydroelectric energy, solar energy is relatively evenly distributed and even countries with relatively low irradiation intensity can make solar energy systems profitable. Nature can capture and store solar energy in the photosynthetic process in the form of biomass, whereas mankind faces different challenges: Only 17% of the globally consumed energy is used in form of electricity; 83% is used in form of fuels.10 Although the demand for electricity is increasing (on average about 2.5% per year, estimated by the IEA), we need different forms of capturing, converting and carrying this abundant form of energy. This challenge confronts not only scientists, presenting a variety of complex and diverse problems. It is a multidisciplinary task, which requires the combination of expert knowledge in many different areas on a global scale and a new, creative way of thinking beyond subject borders. As important as the scientific expertise is, the ability to work in international teams, the awareness of cultural and educational differences in different countries and the ability to communicate and present results to an international audience appropriately are becoming more important than ever. What does this mean for education in chemistry? A new form of education is required, which not only teaches fact-based knowledge, but prepares and trains students to deal with these future challenges. This new form of education, incorporated into the regular curriculum, has to enhance the students’ understanding of the complexity of these challenges and support and strengthen their awareness of its importance. The heading “Solar Energy” corresponds to approximately 130,000 publications, listed in “Web of Science” (06/01/2014). Despite the fact that Cantrell emphasized already in 1978 the importance of the integration of solar energy concepts into chemistry university teaching,11 “Solar Energy Education” results in only 330 and the term “Solar Energy University Course” in just 40 publications, which mainly correspond to university programs within graduate programs in renewable energy. The described programs and courses focus in most cases on a general education in renewable energy technologies and approach the topic only from the scientific side.12,13 Clearly, despite the fact that there is a high request for a stronger focus on university education in so-called “sustainable” chemistry topics,1,2,7−9 there are not a lot of approaches within the field of solar energy (e.g., see ref 14), although it is an exemplary topic and excellently suited for the demonstration of a sustainable education in chemistry “across borders”.
is a graduate course, which focuses on solar energy. It examines the topic from different points of view and shows a concrete example of how the integration of sustainable topics into the university curriculum in chemistry education could work. The course idea was developed and implemented by the authors of this article and carried out in collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Development and the Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratories, Uppsala University, Sweden. The aim was to design a university course which combined different disciplines and teaching methods to give an overview of the newest approaches in the solar energy science, industry, and policy to students with different educational and cultural backgrounds. Everyone, including nonacademics, could apply to participate in the course without background knowledge of the different course parts; the only requirement was a high motivation to deal with the course topic in a multidisciplinary, multicultural, and creative way. To ensure effectiveness of group discussions and the performance of simple laboratory exercises in smaller groups, the number of course participants was limited to 16. The participants were chosen according to their educational background and a short motivation letter to achieve an equal distribution of background knowledge in the different course areas. Additionally, the course coordinators aimed for a high cultural diversity to support an international and broad view of the course topic. The course was carried out as an intensive three-week course with a one-week break from classroom activities to allow the students to prepare for a final exam. Instructional techniques for the different course activities and a course reader with relevant literature were an integral part of the course. The course reader was handed out before the start of the course. It was compiled such that it should encourage and motivate the students to inform themselves further on the different course topics as well as to support their understanding of the subject matter. It contained background information in the form of popular science articles, current political information on the topic, and a summary of the course parts with additional organizational information. It was handed out before the start of the course. On the basis of the course reader and complemented by their own research, the participants were asked to prepare short assignments in advance of each course module to ensure similar, basic background knowledge. The basic elements of the course were lectures, given by invited experts from different universities, (non)governmental institutions, and industrial representatives at the beginning of each new module. Several lectures were open to the general public and one lecture was given as a video-conference. The lecturers were asked to give a detailed, but intelligible overview of their field, assuming no specific background knowledge of the audience. The lectures were followed by discussion seminars, organized and carried out by the course coordinators. They aimed for a deeper understanding of the subject matter by problem-based discussions in small groups, the performance of short role plays, the imitation of a quiz show, and a laboratory exercise. The course was passed if a student participated actively in 80% of the course activities, prepared one assignment for each course module (see section 1 and 2 in the Supporting Information for a sample assignment and the specific grading criteria), and passed the final exam.
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“SolEn FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE”: A NEW CONCEPT FOR TEACHING SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY “SolEn (Swedish for “the sun”) for a Sustainable Future Perspectives on Solar Energy from Science, Industry and Policy” 1570
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COURSE PARTS AND PEDAGOGIC IMPLICATIONS The course was divided according to its content into the following modules (see Figure 1a and 1b, Supporting Information, for a detailed course schedule):
focused on the Renewable Energy Act, its effectiveness, and the role of Germany as an example country for the establishment of a political basis and legitimization for the usage of renewable energy resources. It was followed by a lecture on the current renewable energy policy in Sweden and the situation of the Swedish solar energy market. Leaving Europe and providing an international perspective of the political module, the international situation of the current photovoltaic market was described in another lecture and compared to the German and Swedish market. The following discussion seminar addressed the current situation in the students’ home countries: Each student was asked to give a short, critical presentation on the usage of renewable energy resources in his/her home country and potential political actions to support them. The humanitarian approach of the topic was introduced by a lecture on climate change, its current status, future prospects, and the impact of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the climate. The lecture aimed for the creation of a scientific basis for further discussions on energy in a broader context. On the basis of the gained knowledge, a lecture followed, which gave an overview of the energy consumption worldwide with respect to industrial growth and increasing population. Basic economic approaches were part of the lecture as well as ethical concerns addressing the question of “how much energy do we actually need?” Further economic definitions and terms were acquired in a subsequent discussion seminar with the help of role-playing activities, in which the students were asked to explain the new terms as simply as possible. The third week of the course focused more on natural sciences perspectives of solar energy and was introduced by a one-day event on applied solar energy research. First, the operation principle of different solar cell types was explained. With this knowledge, students went on to build their own dye-sensitized solar cells using various household dyes. This module gave the technical grounding for the next day, where a field trip to a local solar cell company gave insight into the manufacturing process of thin-film solar cells. The topic represented a convenient bridge to introduce different solar energy research areas: For the sixth course module, natural and artificial photosynthesis were the central topics. They strengthened the importance of photosynthesis for us and our environment as a unique process of capturing solar energy and converting it into chemical energy. Related to the introduction lecture and based on previously introduced strategies to modify the natural photosynthetic process genetically, the following lecture focused on hydrogen production from algae as an alternative way of fuel production. In the following discussion seminar, a fake quiz show was used to repeat and clarify the scientific concepts and terms. The last part was devoted to a prospective view on solar energy as a future alternative energy source. Concepts of integrating solar energy research into global, political concepts were introduced in video lectures and obstacles and achievements were discussed. The last day focused on the final exam, a course summary, and an evaluation. This was followed by a group dinner. The idea of the exam was not a simple reproduction of gained knowledge, but rather the creation of a deeper understanding of the different course parts and their connections by dealing critically and creatively with different opinions on the overall topic. The course participants were divided into small groups on the first day of the course and were asked to prepare a 10 min plenary speech over
Figure 1. Diagram showing the percentage of questions which were answered correctly by the students in a pretest before the course start (light column) and in the identical final test (respectively dark column) in the selected course modules. The first columns in the row belong to students in social sciences, the second to students in natural sciences, and the third to students with a background in natural sciences and with previous knowledge in Solar Energy.
• An introduction module, consisting of organizational aspects of the course, such as the hand out of the final exam questions and a general motivation for dealing with the course topic • A political module, focusing on international renewable energy policies and emphasizing especially the role of solar energy • A humanitarian module, dealing with economical and ethical aspects of energy consumption • A module broaching the issue of applied solar energy research, focusing on solar cells • An industrial module, including a field trip to a local company manufacturing solar cells and introducing an economic perspective on the replacement of conventional energy sources by renewable energies • A module on current research topics within the field of solar energy, reaching from natural to artificial photosynthesis research and algal hydrogen production • A global perspective on solar energy, aiming for a summary and a connection of the different course modules. The introduction module was devoted to providing a broad overview of the course topic with an introduction lecture giving the motivation for dealing with solar energy as an alternative energy resource in science, politics, and industry. It emphasized the importance of different energy forms required in future, such as electricity and fuels. The second, political module of the course was introduced with a lecture on the renewable energy policy in Germany. The lecture 1571
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the 3 weeks. This speech was to be given in a simulated discussion of a fictional EU committee on Renewable Energy of the EU-parliament within a meeting on a Public Consultation on the Potential of Solar Energy as a Future Alternative Energy Source. Each group had to represent a member of the EU parliament, such as a representative of a country (e.g., France, Germany) or a representative from a certain commission (e.g., Energy or Ethics). The students were asked to consider the potential opinion of the represented institution and its specific arguments, incorporate their gained knowledge of the course topic appropriately, and additionally, gain expertise in professional speech-writing.
correctly. This means that even students who did not have any background knowledge in natural sciences were able to learn within 3 weeks the basic scientific concepts and processes of the presented science. Similarly, natural science students were able to learn in this short period a reasonable amount of the important political and philosophical concepts discussed in the course, but the gained knowledge by this subgroup in this module was not completely satisfying. This might be caused by the overall emphasis of the course on the two sections “Applied Solar Energy Research” and “Solar Energy: Research Perspectives” and suggests a stronger focus on the humanitarian module when the course is repeated.
COURSE EVALUATION The course was evaluated on two criteria: • The learning outcome of the students, as determined by two short tests based on the course content: A pretest, carried out before the course, and a final test, carried out after the course. • Student satisfaction, determined via a questionnaire, where the students had the chance to comment on the course content, the teaching concept and their own learning outcome.
Student Evaluation of the Course
Student Learning Outcomes
Comments • Thank you so much for great weeks! I have learned so much within this time and the gained knowledge will definitely help me in my further studies! Thanks! • I would like to congratulate you on the establishment of this course. It was one of the most interesting courses I have attended here in Uppsala! • I liked the different perspectives on the topic! (3×) · It was great that the course was accessible as well to people, who don’t have a background in chemistry. Everything was explained in a good way, so that everyone understood the concepts! • It was great that all of us had different experiences and we learned from each other! • I really liked the fact that we had so many different nationalities combined with the interdisciplinary approach on the topic and the creative learning atmosphere! • Great that we had the multidisciplinary perspectives, combined with some hands-on exercises and the fieldtrip! • Deep and structured information of the different aspects of solar energy!
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The success of the course was measured not only by two short tests providing a fact-based indication of the learning outcome, but also by an evaluation form, which the students were asked to fill out at the end of the course (examples of student opinions on the course are given in Box 1; for the complete evaluation form, see section 4, Supporting Information). Box 1. Student Opinions on the Course, Collected from Evaluation Sheets
To determine the learning outcomes of the students, a short test of 30 min was designed, which dealt with fact-based questions, addressing the content of the different course parts “Solar Energy Policy”, “Applied Solar Energy Research”, and “Solar Energy: Research Perspectives” (see section 3, Supporting Information, for the complete test). To get a direct impression of the learning outcome, the questions on the pre- and final tests were identical. The students were not aware of the tests in advance, which gave them no time for additional preparation. Furthermore, answers to the questions in the tests were not explicitly given in the course during lectures or seminars. The short tests were not graded for the students and provided only an indication for the course coordinators, which topics need to be emphasized further in a second run of the course. The results were analyzed in the following way: The students were divided into three groups according to their educational background (see Figure 1): social sciences (column 1), natural sciences (column 2), and natural sciences with an educational background in solar energy (column 3). The light bars in the diagram show the exam results in the pretest and the dark bars represent the results in the final test. For example, students with a background in natural sciences answered 14% of the questions in the pretest in the section “Solar Energy Policy” correctly (light blue column). In the final exam, they answered 61% of the questions correctly. Interestingly, all students had advanced knowledge in the “Solar Energy Policy” section, independently of their background, whereas most knowledge was gained in this course part by students with a background in natural sciences. Students with a social sciences background learned most in the parts “Applied Solar Energy Research” and “Solar Energy: Research Perspectives”. Even students, who claimed at the beginning of the course to have background knowledge in the field of solar energy research, gained most knowledge in the last two parts of the course (on average about 27%). Despite the very heterogeneous group composition, the results of the final test show clearly that almost every subgroup was able to answer about 50% of the questions of each course part
Student support for the course was very enthusiastic throughout the evaluation. The multidisciplinary lectures and seminars, the multicultural learning atmosphere, the different learning methods applied in the discussion seminars, and the diverse background of the course participants were highlighted specifically in the evaluation form. Suggestions for improvements included a longer duration of the course to spend more time on the different topics and the suggestion to offer the course as well in form of a distance/online course to reach a broader audience.
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CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK The challenges we are going to face in the near future cannot be assigned to a single discipline: inherently, Energy, Climate Change and the reduction of Waste, which are listed in the UN Agenda 21 as three of the main challenges in the 21st century,1 have a multidisciplinary and global origin. It is clear that in order 1572
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to meet and overcome these challenges, a multidisciplinary and international approach is required. This approach has to be a creative one, which considers all available resources and disciplines, which is able to “cross borders” and establishes a new way of thinking. The foundation of dealing with multidisciplinary problems in a creative way is rooted in education. With an education considering all these aspects, we are able to train and prepare students to meet our future challenges appropriately. One approach is, as shown here, a multidisciplinary and multicultural graduate course on solar energy. This course shows exemplarily how to integrate sustainable topics such as Energy into the basic university education and to use them as a possibility to introduce new, creative concepts of teaching. With our course we were able to demonstrate, for the first time, on a small scale to students how future challenges in the world are going to be addressed. At the same time we trained them to think in new, more creative ways to solve problems in their own subjects and motivate them to think “out of their subject box”. The very positive feedback and the evaluation of the overall learning outcome of the students show that the applied model of a multidisciplinary and multicultural university course suits perfectly for meeting future requirements for the education of students in sustainable topics, e.g., in the subject chemistry. With this article, we would like to encourage chemistry teachers at schools and universities to use our course as a model of how to integrate sustainable topics into basic science and, in particular, chemistry education. We hope that we could inspire teachers around the world with our course to enrich and complement basic chemistry educationfor us and the future of our planet. For further questions on course materials and information on the course content and activities, please contact the authors.
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REFERENCES
(1) Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development: Conference on Environment and Development: Agreements, (United Nations, 1993). (2) Iles, A.; Mulvihill, M. J. Collaboration across Disciplines for Sustainability: Green Chemistry as an Emerging Multistakeholder Community. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012, 46, 5643−5649. (3) Moore, J. W. Sustainability. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1595. (4) Moore, J. W. Energizing Students and Science. J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84, 743. (5) Zoller, U. Science Education for Global Sustainability: What Is Necessary for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Strategies? J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 297−300. (6) Burmeister, M.; Rauch, F.; Eilks, I. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Chemistry Education. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2012, 13, 59−68. (7) Fisher, M. A. Chemistry and the Challenge of Sustainability. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 179−180. (8) Iyere, P. A. Chemistry in Sustainable Development and Global Environment. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1604−1606. (9) Kirchhoff, M. M. Education for a Sustainable Future. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87, 121. (10) Styring, S. Solar Fuels: Vision and Concepts. Ambio 2012, 41, 156−162. (11) Cantrell, J. S. Solar-Energy Concepts in Teaching of Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 1978, 55, 41−42. (12) Aurandt, J. L.; Butler, E. C. Sustainability Education: Approaches for Incorporating Sustainability into the Undergraduate Curriculum. J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract. 2011, 137, 102−106. (13) Galgano, P. D.; Loffredo, C.; Sato, B. M.; Reichardt, C.; El Seoud, O. A. Introducing Education for Sustainable Development in the Undergraduate Laboratory: Quantitative Analysis of Bioethanol Fuel and Its Blends with Gasoline by Using Solvatochromic Dyes. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2012, 13, 147−153. (14) Cummings, S. D. Confchem Conference on Educating the Next Generation: Green and Sustainable Chemistry-Solar Energy: A Chemistry Course on Sustainability for General Science Education and Quantitative Reasoning. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 523−524.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information *
Sample assignment and grading criteria; course schedule; preand final test; course evaluation. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank the Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratories and the Center for Sustainable Development at the Uppsala University for their support and their help to carry out the course. It has been a great pleasure and a lot of fun to work with everyone involved in the project! Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the invited speakers, Ferdi Schüth (Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Germany), Stenbjörn Styring, Peter Lindblad and Leif Hammarström (Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratories, Uppsala University), Susanne Karlsson (Swedish Energy Agency), Uwe Zimmermann and Johan Lindahl (Ångström Solar Center, Uppsala University), Mats Olsson (Department for Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Science) and Thomas Faunce (Energy Change Institute, Australian National University) for their contributions. 1573
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