For the first time, Glendale Water & Power is teaming up with the Rahus Institute’s Solar Schoolhouse program to help teachers bring hands-on lessons about solar power into the classroom, said Joe Flores, a business account representative with Glendale Water & Power.
Members of the Solar Schoolhouse program have been visiting California schools since 2001, helping teachers bring solar projects into their curriculum, said Tor Allen, director of the Rahus Institute.
“It’s challenging when you introduce something new to schools that already have a lot on their plate,” Allen said.
Hal Aronson, co-director of the Solar Schoolhouse program, explained to the teachers during Wednesday’s workshop how to determine the correct voltage necessary to power things like fans, radios and stereos, and then the teachers tried it, hooking various appliances up to different quantities of solar cells and letting the lights do the work.
“This is the one power plant that I would be more than happy to have around kids,” said Aronson, referring to the solar cells around the room.
On Tuesday afternoon, the same group of teachers learned about projects they could do that relate to solar thermal energy. The teachers created solar cookers out of cardboard and aluminum foil that can be used to concentrate heat and cook things like a bowl of rice or beans, said Nabila Jahchan, a chemistry teacher at Glendale High School. Jahchan said she might do the solar cooker project with her students, since it’s a straightforward project and the materials are easy to find.
