EYE Manager Championship Part I. Introduction to the

EYE education model

Questions to the partners

• The name of this book?

• Try to use environmentally friendly paper and colors in printing.

• Part II. Suggestion to references: in own language and in English. OK?

• Subtitles on each page even when text is on several pages?

• Photos: please, give the right names for the photographs (Carmen, Magdalena, other)

• ”More to learn” in the end of part I : give me good references about energy education planning and didactics!

• In which form the contact information? Is there some standard?

• Page numbers are included later

• The headlines, for examle ”How students thoink about the EYEManger Guide”, do you have suggestions for a better formulation?

• Help with captions! I want short and funny lyrics.

The book is produced in co-operation with the teachers and the energy experts from the Local Energy Agencies in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Polen, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden with the economical support from the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme.

Printed in January 2011 on environmentally friendly paper with environmentally friendly colors.

Photo

about the teacher with the students

Contents

Why energy education?

The EYE Energy Education model

Thoughts about the EYE model from the students, teachers and the energy experts

Conclusions

References

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About using energyNearly all human activity affects the environment. This applies to a great extent to our use of energy. Our living requires a great deal of energy – the amount depends on our comfort needs, the building’s technical equipment, geographical location and the outdoor climate. On Earth, there is no real energy shortage. Large amounts of energy flows on us every day. As the sun is so generous, we can by developing wind power, solar, wave and other renewable energy sources in future use of energy without destroying nature. But while development of the renewable energy forms is in progress, we must be thrifty with the energy we use because it largely comes from oil, coal and uranium, from so-called non-renewable energy which have negative effects on the environment.

There are various good ways to generate energy, but you will never get away from that to use energy efficiently is the best for the environment. Energy can be used more efficiently by changing our behaviour and by using more efficient technology. Awareness and knowledge about how we can find sustainable ways to use energy are therefore important. We must all be responsible for creating a long-term sustainable society. By reducing our energy use, we contribute to a better and greener future.

Photo: Carmen Castells

Why energy education at school?International policy documents for development of a sustainable society are unison – education is one of the most important instruments to achieve the goals. Many studies show that young people are aware of the major environmental problems, but they still have little knowledge about them. They have both poor understanding of the concepts included in the questions and bad fact knowledge. It is common to mix up causes and consequences of for example increased greenhouse effect and ozone depletion and it is not very surprising because of the complexity of these issues. There are contradictory future forecasts and different explanations to what are the causes and consequences.

Learning to understand climate issues and how various decisions cut across society requires knowledge from several disciplines. The better sustainability requires international cooperation, a national policy which takes account of environmental issues in planning and decision making, and not least, a well-educated and well informed population. Basically, the energy is a technical subject, along with the nature-orientated subjects and mathematics. But, to understand how the problems occurred requires historical knowledge of industrialism and the modern society. Finally, to understand how decisions are taken and how to influence them one must have knowledge in social studies and economy. Education is a long-term instrument for a more sustainable society. The schools have an operative role in this work. The schools have a very great possibility to make a difference.

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Therefore, it is widely accepted that the organized information and training of students in rational use of energy, energy saving, renewable energy sources and in climate changes is an important factor for creating well-informed and responsible future energy consumers.

Therefore, the European Union, and the member-states individually, have highly promoted energy and environmental education and relevant projects in schools of all education levels.

Therefore, the “European Young Energy Manager Championship” education model is created.

Photo: Carmen, Spain

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What is the EYE-model? GenerallyEYEManager Championship project is an example of an education model for secondary schools where environmental knowledge, technology, economy and science has combined in a symbiosis. Science gives an understanding of technology and technology serves as an entrance to the natural sciences. Together they provide a further understanding of our dependence and our impact on the environment. It is also possible to extend the topic further to include it in social studies because energy issues in the highest degree is on the political agenda, both nationally and internationally. Skills of energy is therefore very essential for all citizens in a modern society where we must take consider how we take care of our environment. The EYE model makes both the teachers and students responsible for the learning process and connect the theory of energy to the real life with an effective way. In following the different steps of the model are described.

The EYE-model is based on following main parts:1) learning theory around energy using, energy saving = ENERGY KNOWLEDGE, 2) exercises by doing an energy audit at school buildings and homes = ENERGY AUDIT,3) designing an energy saving plan = MEASURES,

4) transferring the new knowledge to other target groups = PEER TO PEER.

The education tools which were needed for implementation were produced during the project period. The tools are shortly presented in the next chapters and can be downloaded at the project website: www.eyemanager.eu.

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Planning of educationThe project group had in the beginning of the project period created guidelines for planning of energy education: Energy education in secondary school method. By using these guidelines the teachers and planners made the didactic programs for energy education of their students. The teachers planned the context of the energy education in whole and after that it was connected to the EYE Manager Championship project.

Teaching and learningThe EYE Manager Guide was produced in order to use it as a handbook for the students and the teachers telling about the energy systems, energy using products, building construction and energy saving measures. An important part of the guide was to learn how to make an energy audit of the buildings. After the theory part the students were ready to make the energy audits in real buildings according to the instructions from the EYEManager Guide. Now we go to practice!

In the next step the students were making energy saving plans for the buildings.Who will make the best plans, who will suggest the most effective energy saving measures? The competition will begin! The competing teams were not the national teams but all the students were mixed with other European students in the teams from the nine involved countries. Why? The answer is that there are big differences between the countries regarding to the energy situation and prerequisites for energy using and saving. Therefore, mixing the students in the competing teams meant that effects of the different circumstances between the countries were minimised. Another positive factor with the mixed teams was that transnational contacts between the students and teachers were created and they really could get better understanding for the conditions in the other countries. The energy saving plans were made by using the EYE Manager Software developed in the project and the plans were published for to join the competition: The European Young Energy Manager Championship.

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Transferring the knowledge to the other target groups – Peer to PeerAn important part in the EYE model is transferring the knowledge to the other people. The “new” knowledge should be spread! A pedagogically strong method, “learning by doing”, was applied when the involved students by themselves were educating younger students, so called “peer-to-peer”-method. The energy experts and teachers gave lessons to the other teachers. The knowledge about energy education was spread to the families of the students and other stakeholders as well as by the project website, the newspapers and radio. “The rings on the water”-phenomenon was created.

After the project periodThe EYE model was carried out in cooperation between energy experts at the local energy agencies and the schools. This organisation gave the project many advantages, the energy agencies gave expertise to the schools and the schools could introduce their working methods to the energy agencies which facilitate working with schools even after the project period.

All the material and activities were carefully evaluated during the project period by all the target groups. The parts of the evaluation results which specially are considered to help the teachers and planners in their work are presented in this book in the chapter: “Thoughts about the EYE model”.

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How students thinkabout the EYE Manager Guide

It is not easy to make a guide for everybody!For somebody it was easy to understand, for somebody it was including too difficult words and was too technical. Somebody thought it was good looking with nice pictures and diagrams, somebody felt it boring: like a “textbook”. The students in the warmer countries meant that there was too much information about heating and too little about using electricity. Generally, somebody thought the book included too much details, somebody wanted to have more information for example about how to insulate the building envelope and about the different types of light bulbs that can be found in the school buildings. Many students said that the guide should have told more about the environmental aspects of our energy use.

An useful book!Common to the students, however, was that they thought the book gave much new information about saving energy. “Now we know how to be more eco-friendly and can we can even show our friends and learn them how to safe energy.”

Suggestions

Most of the students found the guide inspirating specially the practical activities like doing the energy audit.

It is important for the students that the education material is “good looking”, include many practical examples, many pictures and that the text is not unnecessary complicated.

The students really appreciate to see the energy issue in a wider context, connecting energy using and saving to the environmental perspective.

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How students thinkabout the EYE Manager Software

The idea The software will facilitate us to see in few seconds our energy saving ideas in a “real” situation and check the effect of the measures both in money and kilowatthours.

SuggestionsThe students are normally very used to different kind of computer games and other softwares and therefore have high demands on the quality and usability of the software.

An ideal software should be more interactive, and should include more “life” in, both in a form of movement and sound. A fundamental demand is that it is simple to use, that the software is fast without disturbance and that the connections will work.

Of the pedagogical point of view the students want that the software could be more extensive, they wanted to see more options to select when they were taking measures.

A Photoof the

software screen

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about the International Teamwork

According to the students it was very interesting to work together with other students from other European countries.

However, the communication problems were many, not depending on the students but the technique and the logistics. It was mostly really difficult to gather all the nine countries in the same time for discussions for making energy saving plans. It is important to choose a simpliest possible communication techniques but not to forget that it have even to be interesting for the “modern” students.

The students wanted even to see the face of the speaker =web camera!

SuggestionsIt is very easy scale down the international EYE model to a school or a class level and the communication problems will disappear. Different teams can be built and the competition organised in a simple way between the class mates in a classroom.

How students think

The very best about the EYEManager Championship according to the students

International contactsThe best thing is to work with students with other countries for the same issue: energy saving. The students highly appreciated to meet other people with different culture and tradition and making friends all over Europe. In the same time they even learnt how to work in a big European project involving many partners.

Improved knowledge by doing practical workIt was very valuable to learn how to use the energy in a better way. Especially making the energy audit gave us the chance to learn by doing practical activities. By doing the energy audit the students got in touch with families, energy experts and schools managerial staff and build a relation with them.

Improved knowledge in EnglishThe students really appreciated their improved knowledge not only in energy issue but even in English. The students trained the language both in small groups by doing international teamwork and in front of lots of people at the international meetings. The reports were written in english and lots of the other material was even in English.

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How teachers think aboutEnergy Education in secondary school

method

The guidelines give a good summary and many examples of teaching methods that can be useful in planning the course. The guidelines give necessary, interesting, practical tools to introduce this subject in the curricula of secondary education and are helpful for developing the didactic programme and planning the lessons. It also includes many modern approaches in teaching, so that the objectives can certainly meet the results. Guidelines for teachers make it easy for us to access good ideas and important issues about energy consumption and energy education, in a friendly way. It is clear, specific and goal oriented.

SuggestionsThe guidelines was felt long but in the same time the teachers noticed that it is good that teachers can easily choose which parts to use. The teachers rated the material quite high but think however that it is positive to include more inspiration about problem solving, decision making, critical and creative thinking in their teaching.

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How teachers thinkabout the EYE Manager Guide

InspirationThe guide helps students realize how energy can be saved even through simple measures. The guide gives a good overview and offers many inputs that can be discussed during the lessons. The guide is very accessible both for the students and the teachers who had never worked on energy issues before. All the teachers testing the EYE model said that the EYEManager Guide gave them inspiration in teaching about rational use of energy and they will absolutely recommend the material even to other teachers together with other education material.

SuggestionsCertain sections of the guide include technical terms which can be a barrier to a good understanding of the concepts that are presented. This means that the teachers have to be alert and to explain the terms carefully to the students. The teachers mentioned even that it is necessary to focus teaching more to the environmental aspects of energy use and the importance of the behaviour changes than the EYEManager Guide can serve.

A Photo of a

working teacher

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Learning by doingThe EyeManager Championship goes from the theoretical field to action. Practical excercises for example by doing energy audits have really given understanding how energy is used in buildings and how it can be saved. The project has helped both the students and the teachers to gain a better perspective of how we can and must change our daily habits in order to obtain a better environment at global level. Now the students consciously put into practice energy saving actions of which they were not fully aware before and they have understood how important small acts can be for the environment.

International contactsThe students’ enthusiasm about the international contacts and work was great. Our students acquired not only acknowledgement, but also hundreds of friends all over Europe and this gave the certainty they are indeed European students!

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something else

The very best about the EYEManager Championship according to the teachers

What is successful teachingfor the teachers?

The teachers in all nine countries involved in the project were asked about their successful teaching methods.

Factors affecting the teaching resultsThe absolutely most important thing for success is teacher´s motivation and knowledge in the topic according to the teachers involved in the. A teacher that is enthusiastic and knows the subject is a must to inspire the students and raise their motivation and interest. Concerning the energy education it is essentially that teachers really have recognized that energy consumption is a real problem for our world. To make good plans is important before the course but even more important is to update the plan during the course regarding what happens in the classroom.Other things like materialistic resources or support from the school or politicians are not rated as high as the teachers own properties and capacity.

About different educational methodsThe teachers really preferred team work as an effective method, the answers were very homogeneous between the nine countries,. Generally, the methods that takes the students near to the real life were preferred such as experiments, personnel meetings with energy experts, study tours. Role games, like in the EYE model: “to be an energy expert and prepare an energy audit” is preferred as an relatively effective way of teaching. However, the deviation between the teachers was high concerning the importance of the role games. Some countries really like this method, some did not. Competitions, individual learning by using Internet or especially reading books are not especially recommended ways of learning according to the teachers in the EYE project.

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A good teacher …

• has a good communication with the students• makes good planning• finds a common language and has good explanations • has logical, modern, updated and well organised material • is logical, modern, updated and well organised • gives continuous feedback• adjusts the methods and techniques according to students age and knowledge

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How energy experts thinkabout the EYE Manager Guide

A valuable toolThe guide gives a real and reliable image about the energy problems and the main steps to develop an energy audit and to choice the right solutions. The guide helps students to be more aware about the energy consumption and how to change their behaviour to save energy.

SuggestionsIt is very important that the teachers are sure that the students have understood the technical details but even the connection between energy, energy use, economy and the climate effects. Why are the students studying energy topic? The EYE model is not supposed to make the students real energy experts but the people who really want make a difference!

How an energy expert think

The schools need us!The EYE project has made the energy experts more conscious about the need of an energy education in schools. “Now we have more experience in didactics and know more about the real school situation which makes it easier for us to help the schools in teaching energy.”

Better understanding of the different energy systemsThe energy experts think that the project has helped the students, teachers and energy experts to understand differences between the countries for example concerning the construction of the buildings, energy use and way of living. Now the students can understand that there exist differences in energy resources which affects the way of using energy. Finally, the students have shown solutions how to save energy despite the differences!

Real enthusiasmThe experts say that it is interesting to notice that students have a real enthusiasm for energy savings and a sustainable development and that they are aware of the energy problems that our society confronts and what positives changes they can bring.It has been valuable for the experts to meet to be “in the same room” with teachers and students from all around Europe discussing such an important issue for the all planet – the efficient use of energy.

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What is successful teachingfor the energy experts?

The motivation of the teachers is the most important factor for successful teaching. How to be a motivated teacher? It is important that teachers are aware regarding new matters and active learning methods, they have to have a good knowledge about the issues related to energy use and sustainable development.The knowledge increase the motivation!

It is essential that the students understand the importance of what they are learning in relation to the contest in whole. Using educational tools, adequate to the subject that you are teaching will most probably facilitate successful teaching results. Critical and global thinking should be encourared.

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Some selected thoughts about successful teaching"A fundamental prerequisite in order to be able learn something, is that you have confidence in your own ability. Through the students' thoughts and beliefs becomes visible to both themselves and the teacher, and that the teacher takes students´ ideas seriously and builds on them in their teaching, all students experience that they can contribute and that their thoughts and their language good enough. " By Torsten Madsén

“The teacher has a responsibility to build and maintain social relationships. Successful teaching is based on mutual trust between teacher and student. Being able to be in relationship with children and young people is the basis of teachers' skills. As a teacher, you are both involved in relationships and have an educational responsibility in which to respond is up to and meet the individual student.”By Jonas Aspelin

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.  By Mark Van Doren

Other interesting references ?????

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To teachers and plannersThe EYE Manager Championship- model is generally regarded as a successful model in secondary school energy education by the students and teachers who has used the model.

The idea of a model as an active way of teaching and learning is really working. The teachers are working according to the didactic plans which integrate many school subjects to the technology subject and put an energy topic in this way a wider context, which is necessary for understanding the importance of a sustainable society.

The EYEManager Guide is not only a good basic theoretical material but even help for student’ practical work with energy audits and in planning measures for energy saving in buildings and energy behaviour changes. The software gives a good indication how the measures can be done and what are the effects. The competition gives an extra kick for learning. Shortly: The model integrates theory and practice in a frame of successful methodology.

There is also other education material suitable for secondary schools in many countries. The schools should use these possibilities as well as everything that the Internet, media, textbooks, company and other contacts can serve together with the material developed in the EYE project. Make your own best mix of the available school materials. The teachers are not supposed to follow the EYE material and model slavishly but to be inspired to lift energy education to a new level.

Learning by doing!

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The EYE documentsThe following project documents are available at the project websitewww.eyemanager.eu

Energy education in secondary school method

Didactic programs for students (not open for everybody)

EYE Manager Guide

EYE Manager Manual of the Software

EYE Manager Championship Rules Manual

Peer-to-Peer reports (not open for everybody?)

Pilot Action Evaluation reports (not open for everybody?)

More to learn …ROSE: The relevance of Science education – an international research project.

www.roseproject.no/

Jonas Aspelin. 2010. What really matters is ‘between’. Understanding the focal point of education from an inter-human perspective. Website: www.use.umu.se/english/research/education/2-2010/

Other references????