Further development of an inclusive, interactive mobile app for young people to learn about energy and CO2.

328951a1-2e01-4f1a-8f73-05794f09a510

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£250,000

March 31, 2023

March 31, 2024

The Solar for Schools Education App delivers all it set out to deliver when it was first created in 2020\. It was designed using geo-functions on mobile phones to provide contextual/experiential learning that enabled pupils who were not in school to take learning 'journeys' and discover information about energy, environment, electricity, and efficiency. The aim was to deliver the Learn-Act-Share place and project-based ESD experience to students who could not access computers. It was created to be engaging and link to KS3 core curriculum learning. But teachers occasionally faced with teaching a topic that requires additional research to help extend their own knowledge and skills before they present to students. This is daunting when teaching a complex topic, such as Education for Sustainable Development or Climate Change. Our App and teacher support, will provide teachers with all the scientific knowledge and data they need to teach and progress each lesson with expertise and confidence.

Our project is designed to refine the learning and to enable teachers to deliver education in an innovative way that they can track and monitor. A "back-end" development phase is required for schools to make this a teaching opportunity that will help teachers deliver learning about climate change in a way that links to the curriculum. Teachers need to be able to see the completion of units, the results of test to monitor their students and improve their learning. Students gain points and rewards for improvement in learning about the environment and energy but back-end access for teachers is paramount to making the Solar for Schools learning journeys useful for homework and for students who may be studying out of school, so it is inclusive for all. The learning will also be translated to the web, so students using computers in ICT can perfect IT skills at the same time learn about decarbonisation, renewable energy sources and climate and, at the same time, improve their literacy and vocabularies.