Solar Energy Design is an exciting 4-week summer course offered in partnership with Concord Consortium through a federally supported grant from the National Science Foundation. The course employs Energy3D, a computer-aided design and simulation tool, along with Google Earth, to empower students to design solar energy model for a home or smaller building within their community. The use of solar energy has progressed from the ancient Greeks placing their homes to face the warm winter sun to modern day ultra-thin photovoltaic film that generates electricity directly from energy from the sun. This course provides students with an opportunity to explore how this alternative energy source can reduce the carbon footprint and investigate how solar panels work to generate electricity. Students design a photovoltaic solar panel system for their own home or smaller community building of their choice and evaluate how the design meets the challenge of maximizing electrical output while minimizing cost and aesthetic impact.
Students are carefully guided to develop critical skills and confidence using Energy3D prior to designing their own models in the software and investigate key concepts around efficiency of photovoltaic cells and solar arrays using the AI features of the tool. Students use the engineering process to design multiple iterations of their models and analyze and evaluate their models, and then share their results with their peers as well as family or friends. Throughout the course, students engage in discussions about energy use, community restrictions, sustainability of solar panels, associated careers and future applications of solar energy.
Middle school physical science.
Software Requirements
Students will need to download and run
Energy3D and
Google Earth in order to complete the course. Both pieces of software are
available for Mac and Windows, and are free to download and run.
Please note: This course requires the use of java to access some course content, which will require regular access to a computer with a Windows/Mac operating system running Safari or Internet explorer. This part of the course cannot be completed on a Chromebook or mobile device.
*Students who plan to transfer credit from VHS Learning to their full-time high school should check with their school to confirm they will accept the credits before registering for a VHS Learning summer course.