An Inquiry-Based Approach to Alternative Energy
Math/Science/Health Teacher -- Streamwood High School, Streamwood, IL
By Greg Reiva

STREAMWOOD, Illinois -- Alternative sources of energy are the future. As pollution levels rise and the availability of fossil fuels becomes increasingly unreliable, it becomes obvious that the future will require sources of energy that are not commonplace today.

As a teacher of physical science and chemistry at Streamwood High School, I wanted to ensure my students understood alternative sources of energy to help prepare them for the future. Not only did I want them to be familiar with the concepts, I wanted them to truly understand how these forms of energy work and to gain a deeper knowledge of the processes behind them. I knew traditional teaching approaches wouldn't be adequate with these types of topics -- I needed to show students how they worked.

My specific interest in fuel cells was ignited by a presentation of the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CFCP) in San Diego last year. The CFCP is a unique collaborative of auto manufacturers, energy companies, fuel cell technology companies and government agencies. The partnership is advancing new vehicle technology based on practical and affordable environmental solutions. The CFCP expects to place up to 60 fuel cell vehicles on the road by the end of 2003. In addition, the partnership is examining fuel infrastructure issues and beginning to prepare the California market for this new technology.

Following the CFPC presentation, I realized that the principles by which fuel cells use hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water could easily be studied and applied to real world lessons. I returned to Illinois excited to launch a fuel cell study with my students.

Fostering Fuel Cells

Early in 2003, I applied for a $5000 grant through the Toshiba America Foundation. My hopes were to use the grant money to purchase probeware and fuel cells to complete an in-depth, inquiry-based student project on fuel cell technology and alternative energy sources. I would also use the probeware to analyze the efficiency of solar cookers.

Fortunately, I received the grant, and promptly purchased five fuel cells and five complete sets of probes, including temperature, current and voltage, from PASCO scientific. My goal was to use the voltage/current sensors to measure the power produced by fuel cells while using the temperature probes to measure the efficiency of solar cookers.

Since receiving the grant and the equipment, my classes have been studying fuel cells and assessing their energy efficiency. Because several transfers of energy take place within a fuel cell, we have looked at energy efficiency at each step along the way as well as overall. The last stage was to actually run the fuel cell and record the electrical energy and power output. The students recorded the current and voltage produced minute by minute with the probes, then downloaded the data into DataStudio software to analyze it. They've collected some extremely sophisticated data.

Eventually, we'll submit our data back to Toshiba. The company is getting into the field of fuel cell technology, and it's possible our work can help them in some manner.

Cooking with the Sun

The other part of my alternative energy study required students to build prototype solar cookers. We stuck to three types of cookers: panel solar cookers, open pit solar cookers and parabolic solar cookers, finding the instructions for building them on the Internet and in books. Of the three, we focused primarily on the parabolic because they are easy to build and they work well.

We then studied the scientific principles behind solar cookers. Three main principles are incorporated into solar cooking, no matter what type of cooker you have:

• Directing the greatest possible amount of the sun's light rays to the food by means of reflection
• Converting light waves to heat energy and
• Effectively retaining heat energy by insulating the cooker

The students and I discussed the fact that, with the parabolic model, the shape of the cooker directly revolves around the reflection principle. In fact, the cooker is made to reflect solely on a single point where the food is to be placed. We also discussed the fact that the cooker must be able to effectively absorb and convert the sun's rays into heat. To aid this process, we used dark materials for the pots. Darker colors absorb the rays and help convert them to heat.

After building the cookers and putting the pots in place, we set the temperature probes inside the cookers. We then monitored the data collected in real-time and downloaded it into DataStudio software to assess it. Over the course of the spring, we took the cookers out three or four different times to collect data.

In examining the data, the kids discovered that the efficiency of the cookers increased as the radiation level outside increased, making them more and more efficient as early spring turned to late spring. The kids deducted that, by the time summer comes around and they want to go camping, a solar cooker would be a good thing to take because they are extremely efficient as well as a very clean way to cook food.

Building Better Thinkers

In the end, the project succeeded in capturing student interest and increasing knowledge about alternative sources of energy. A key part of it was introducing the technology. Using the probeware and software, we increased our data collection by a factor of a thousand. Instead of collecting 30 data points manually as we did last year, we now have 30,000 data points to assess. That got the students much more engaged in the project.

Furthermore, students were intrigued by the probeware. They liked using it, they liked the sophistication of it and they liked being able to download data to the computer to see the results of their investigation instantly. As a result, they've developed a knack for assessing data rather than just collecting it. My biggest beef before was spending too much time manually graphing data and not enough time assessing what it means. The probeware has given them more time to conduct critical analysis and more time to think about what the results mean. Ultimately, I think it's helped the students become better thinkers.

In the long run, I hope this project will have ramifications for the future. If I can get the students doing research on fuel cells now, and they can see how they work and they can see the potential applications, I believe they will be much more open to using alternative sources of energy in the future.