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Earlier this year we participated in Punahou School's Sustainability Fair, which allows students and their families learn about sustainable living. With solar education on the rise and events held year-round, students are learning more and more about solar power and earlier and earlier ages. They are ware of things such as carbon footprints, renewable resources and how important it is to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels. Needless to say, we were impressed how many of the students were familiar with the topic of solar power and how it works.

Teaching kids about solar power, a topic that can even be confusing to adults, can be a complicated task. Here are a few directions one can take to get children interested in learning about solar.

Visual data:

Although terminology like Kilowatt-hours and Kilowatts can be confusing, using pictures and graphs to show this information can visually illustrate concepts that would otherwise be difficult to explain. Things to consider: how much electricity does a house use vs. how much energy does the PV system produce? How does different weather or the time of day affect the amount of electricity the panels produce?

Interaction:

Through science projects or other familiar technology, kids can increase their knowledge of sustainability. Perhaps looking at an existing solar monitoring system to measure and track energy usage and production, or use simple calculations to estimate which appliances are responsible for the most energy consumption.

View real-time solar data here

Demonstration:

There are toys, cars, and solar kits that use solar technology on a much smaller scale; this helps kids to see how sunlight can be turned into energy, movement, or power.

Technology:

Access the online site that the US Department of Energy has created shows kids just how interesting learning about renewable energy and energy efficiency can be.