AC 2010-229: TEACHING RENEWABLE ENERGY THROUGH HANDS-ON PROJECT-BASED LEARNING FOR ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS

Today we are facing an urgent need to prepare our undergraduate and graduate students with multidisciplinary skills to meet the challenges of the fast-growing energy economy. The objective of this paper is to explore the application of hands-on, project-based learning methods for teaching renewable energy courses to engineering technology students. Several renewable energy projects, including fuel cell, wind energy, and solar energy projects, were assigned to students who were interested in learning the new technologies. For the project assignments, the students were expected to conduct literature searches, to design experiments, to fabricate or request hardware, to test the devices, and to analyze the results. We demonstrated that hands-on teaching methods are effective for introducing various renewable energy concepts and practical skills to engineering technology students. Through working on the projects, students not only got a better understanding of the basic concepts of various types of renewable energy, but also were able to apply the concepts in the design of hardware and systems. Supervised by faculty with expertise in R&D of fuel cells, power electronics, solar energy, and thermal energy, the students were able to gain practical skills for fabricating and testing key materials, components, devices, and systems of various renewable energy technologies.