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The EnGen Roadshow
CGI trainees and the EnGen Roadshow
Achievement/Results
The CGI trainees created the energy generation, or “EnGen Roadshow”, an outreach program that demonstrates clean energy science, technology, and policy through an interactive lecture and hands-on demonstrations. The demonstrations include a hand-cranked electric generator, hydro power generator, thermoelectrics, solar panels, stirling engine, fuel cells, rudimentary steam engine, and a toy hydrogen car. The goal is to map out for students the basic infrastructure that connects their household electronics to various resrouce streams that generate electricity. The EnGen Roadshow began in May 2011 and will have presented at 4 high schools during this reporting period.
Address Goals
The interactive lecture and demonstrations were designed for high school students as the trainees felt they were not exposed to the fundamentals of clean energy when they were in high school. They hope to show the relevance of math and science education on real world problems. In designing and refining this outreach program, the trainees had to develop materials that simplified complex issues and yet were still engaging to their audience. The trainees all share the duties of the outreach program, rotate who will present at the high schools, and train each other on how to give the presentations. The program begins with a discussion on where different sources of energy come from, the technologies and efficiency of converting them to a more useful form of electricity, and the environmental impacts that they each have. With feedback received from high school teachers after each presentation, the trainees continually modify and improve the outreach program.
