Conceiving Laboratory Experiments for Renewable Energy and Wind Energy System Courses

该项目是德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校和德克萨斯大学泛美分校的合作项目，旨在为本科生工程课程开发风力涡轮机技术和风力发电系统的学习材料的实验室实验。这些材料旨在用于风能和电力系统的独立专用课程或作为更一般的电力系统课程的组成部分。项目团队正在使用基于挑战的学习方法的人们如何学习的原则来实现更好的学习体验。每个实验都是一个挑战。然后，学生通过每个学习阶段系统地追求挑战，即产生想法，从多个角度看待它，研究和修改，测试和公开。用这种方法开发的材料正在创造和促进以知识、学习者、评估和社区为中心的学习维度为特征的有效学习环境。这些实验室包括风力涡轮机技术和风力发电系统运行的计算机模拟和硬件实验室实验。包含这两种类型的实验有助于材料的可转移性、适应性和传播到其他大学。评估工作正在使用各种各样的技术（即，调查，焦点小组，访谈和学生产品分析）来确定学生对材料有效性的看法以及他们的理解和兴趣的变化。传播包括网站发布、会议和期刊报告和论文，以及有针对性地向其他六所拥有大型电力系统项目的学校进行宣传。更广泛的影响包括材料的传播，加强和推动新兴的风力发电产业，以及对西班牙裔学生的重点关注。

Engineering - Electrical (55)The project, a collaboration effort between University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas-Pan American, is developing laboratory experiments with learning materials on wind turbine technologies and wind power system for undergraduate-level engineering courses. These materials are intended for use in a stand-alone dedicated course in wind energy and power systems or as a component in a more general power systems course. The project team is using the principles of How People Learn with challenged-based learning methods to achieve a better learning experience. Each experiment is formulated and presented as a challenge. Students then pursue the challenge systematically by going through each learning phase, i.e., generating ideas, viewing it from multiple perspectives, researching and revising, testing, and going public. Materials developed with this approach are creating and promoting effective learning environments characterized with knowledge-, learner-, assessment-, and community-centered learning dimensions. The laboratories encompass computer simulations and hardware laboratory experiments of wind turbine technologies and wind power system operations. The inclusion of both types of experiments facilitates transferability, adaptation, and dissemination of the materials to other universities. Evaluation efforts are using an assortment of techniques (i. e, surveys, focus groups, interviews, and student product analysis) to determine the students' perceptions about the material effectiveness and changes in their understanding and interest. Dissemination involves website posting, conference and journal presentations and papers, and a targeted effort to reach a half a dozen other schools with large power systems programs. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the material, strengthening and propelling the emerging wind power industry, and focused efforts on Hispanic students.