In the ever-expanding world of education, the intersection of astronomy and sustainable technology is emerging as an area for students to explore.
For Astronomy students on Monday, that meant being matched up with each other to run some solar panel calculations.
“Students were put in pairs so they had to split up the work,” astronomy teacher Kyle Beggs said. “They had to run a simulator on our computers and track the sun to gather information from that and plug it into the spreadsheet.
The cosmos, stars, and planets have always ignited curiosity but the solar panel project blurred the lines between the skies above and the science of sustainable power down below.
“We are learning about the practical applications of solar panels,” senior Mae Ansuri said. “We are studying the altitude and azimuth and what we need to power a building in a certain area, whether it’s a northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere. We are taking the area we are given and we are calculating how much energy we would need.”
Beggs used a simulator to gather information and make a proposal for a “client” in need of solar panels.
“Students had to put a presentation or proposal together,” he said. “I acted like I had to build a house or building and needed help installing solar panels effectively. Students then had to do some calculations to try to figure that out.”
