Year 1 - Design and Research
Our Schools'Â Project was designed to include all students, all sciences and to emphasize the importance of environmental awareness in a fun and memorable way.
During this year, students decided to built a real size Greenhouse that takes advantage of the Solar Energy to be heated during night a target that seemed impossible. How can you use the Sun Rays if it is night and how can we built a real Greenhouse they wondered.Â
Nevertheless the target was set. They had to figure out ways to make it reality. Therefore they researched, experimented, cooperated and worked as a group and by the end of the year they knew what they had to do.
Meetings-Decisions
After a long research, students decision was to use Solar Energy during the day in order to heat up still water. The water would be kept in an isolated tank and would be channeled in the Greenhouses underfloor heating pipes.
In order to achieve their goal they needed to study and research several areas of all Applied Sciences.
Testing Materials
Rock wool or Polystyrene?Â
White or Black Pipes?
Aluminium Cans or Plastic Bottles?
Experiments and decision for the proper materials to be used.
Students learned how to conduct a valid experiment and how to evaluate the data taken. They decided to use rock wool for the insulation of the solar panels, polystyrene for the floor insulation, plastic bottles insulating the black pipes.
Solar Panels Gradient
Earth-Sun-Seasons
What should the angle of the Solar panels be?Â
Students design and conduct a simulation of the Earth-Sun movement. They use this model to understand how seasons are created and how the angle between the Sun and the Earth changes with seasons. This helped the measure the sun rays gradient to the Earth and decide on the slope of the Solar Panels
Sun Dial Construction
Students needed to study and understand further the relative movement between Earth and Sun and how time is "created". Therefore they studied how people used to calculate time in the past and how they used the Sun Dials. They decided to created a huge Sun Dial with tiles in the school yard. When one is standing in the center of the Sun Dial, its shadow indicated the time.