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Power System Education for K-12. Thomas Overbye (With most of the work done by Zeb Tate and Jana Sebestik). K-12 Education Goals. Provide resources and information for teachers and students Develop interactive and open-ended applets Produce print lessons coordinated with the applets
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Power System Education for K-12 Thomas Overbye (With most of the work done by Zeb Tate and Jana Sebestik)
K-12 Education Goals • Provide resources and information for teachers and students • Develop interactive and open-ended applets • Produce print lessons coordinated with the applets • Align lessons to content standards set forth by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and National Academy of Sciences
Educational Features of the Applets • Java-based • Available to any modern computer platform and can run in most web browsers • Requires no purchase • Once started runs quickly and independently of the Internet connection • Interactive • Users can adjust settings and watch graphs change over time • A dc load flow is run in the background to simulate system response • Open ended • Teachers can use materials created through the TCIP project • Or they can easily incorporate the applet into their current science curriculum
Currently Developed Applets and Lessons • Applet 1 – Power and Energy in the Home • Applet 2 – The Power Grid URL: http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/projects/tcip/
Applet 1 – Power and Energy in the Home • Introduces elements that are used in subsequent lessons: • One-line diagrams • Switches • Simulation time controls and plot windows • Introduces the concepts of power and energy in a familiar context, using familiar electrical loads found in most homes URL: http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/projects/tcip/lesson1.html
Instructional Goals for Applet 1 Students will understand the following: • The power grid is the system that delivers electricity • Electricity flows into the home and is measured • Concerns for home users • Safety • Energy usage • Appliances vary in their power usage • Energy, or power usage over time, is what is measured and paid for • Wise use of appliances saves energy
Teacher’s Guide for Applet 1 Activities for students Information for teachers • Science Content Standards: • Transfer of Energy • Understanding populations, resources and environments How to use the applet • Mathematics Content Standards: • Understand relationships among units and convert from one unit to another within the same system • Analyze change within various contexts Resources Information about the power grid
Applet 2 – The Power Grid • Has many available generator types: • Wind • Hydroelectric • Coal • Natural Gas • Nuclear • Wider scale (3 cities vs. 3 appliances) • Demonstrates effects of line overloads URL: http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/projects/tcip/lesson2.html
Instructional Goals for Applet 2 • Knowledge of the complexity of the power generation and distribution system • Knowledge of how the power grid works and awareness of importance of protecting it • Computing power supply and demand • Analysis of power demand over time • Simulation of response to power demand
Future Work • An applet which assigns costs to each type of generation • Cost associated with each generation type indicates which should be run (and when) • Demonstrates how the load level affects costs by requiring dispatch of more costly generation • Wider dissemination • Continuing improvement of the current applets based on feedback from teachers and industry