Construction lesson shines light on solar power

May 2009

Talk about cooking up a lesson.

Students at Tech Valley High School constructed solar ovens to solve a mathematical and engineering problem posed by their teacher: What is the best shape for a parabolic trough solar cooker to be used in rural Haiti.

Freshmen in Leah Penniman's science class worked in teams of three or four and constructed devices in shapes ranging from half-circles to umbrellas. They then oput their devices to the test, attempting to heat or boil water.

While none of the devices boiled water, nearly all warmed the water.

The work was all part of project-based learning at Tech Valley High School that combines several subjects - in this case math, world knowledge and engineering - to teach students a real-life lesson. They also worked with a pair of Capital Region experts - John Corey, president and technical director at Q-Drive- Resonant Power Systems and John Tobin, an architect with Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture. The men are longtime supporters of TVHS and members of the school's Business Alliance.

The students "grappled with quadratic equations, learned how the equation that governed the collector design affected the cost, the size, and the usability of the cooker and researched deforestation in Haiti," said Penniman. Additionally, she said, they learned "the important role of alternative cooking technologies in making reforestation efforts sustainable."