Progress Report on Energy Project
by Suzy Pearce 11/22/04
PURPOSES
The basic purpose of the project is to engage students
in Yerevan and Cambridge schools in the study of how energy is
produced, used, and wasted and how it can be saved, and to create an
online discussion about issues raised. These issues are both
local and global. In the Yerevan classes there will be
quite a bit of emphasis on learning about different means of producing
energy, including renewable sources. The messages are that we can
all make a difference, we can use our creativity to solve energy
problems, and that it is important for the younger generation to take
some leadership in letting other people know about this. The
small grant that was given by Sister Cities International to fund
it, as part of a cities Network for Sustainable Development had the
further purpose of helping US sister cities with partnerships in the
Newly Independent States and Easter Europe to strengthen their working
relationships. This SCI grant for five such partnerships was
funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs.
THE SCHOOLS
In Yerevan, 14-yr old students with proficient English make up an
after school class that meets once a week at the Knights and Daughters
of Vartan School Complex, where YCSCA President Yuri Jilavyan is
Principal, and also where Project Harmony has installed a computer
room. Classes are taught by physics teacher Arpine Harutyunyan
and chemistry teacher Ophelia Gevorkyan, and assisted by Svetlana
Yeghikyan who directs the Computer Lab. Also consulting to the
project is Astghine Pasoyan, Program Manager for the Alliance to Save
Energy, and Marine Nalbandyan, Ph.D., an environmental educator.
In Cambridge, eighth graders at the Tobin School in
two science classes taught by Tad Sudnick are participating in
this special series of classes inserted into their regular
physical sciences curriculum.. Homeroom and math teacher David
Petty is assisting with the project, as is Jane Flynn, The
project started in September and runs until December.
JOINT ACTIVITIES
Both schools are:
- Sending questions and answers about students lives and schools
back and forth.
- Filling out individual Personal Energy Calculator charts to find
the total number of kilowatt hours per year each student consumes, and
discussing and comparing these. (Links to
English and Russian versions)
- Each class has taken a field trip - Yerevan
visited the local Yerevan Thermal Power Plant, (see photos
on http://www.ann.am/Energy2004/
and Cambridge visited
the new "green" City Hall Annex building
(see Tobin website, also article in Cambridge
Chronicle http://www2.townonline.com/cambridge/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=128532.)
- Students are creating their own proposals for saving
energy,
which we are calling "What IFS" (IFS = Invention for Sustainability)
and will share them in a video conference at the end of November.
PROJECT LAUNCH IN YEREVAN
The project was launched in Yerevan with a very exciting workshop
for the participating students and teachers at School #106 of the
Vardanantz Aspetner (Knights and Daughters of Vartan)
Complex. Suzy Pearce and Joanne Hartunian, who were
visiting for three weeks, attended, along with school administrators,
environmental consultants attached to the project and guest
speakers brought in specially for the day. (See link to more
extensive account). The event was covered by the local TV news
channel, who filmed the opening speakers, as well as interviewing
the representatives of the Solar En company, which produces energy from
alternative sources (link). Astghine Pasoyan, Office
Director of Alliance to Save Energy - Armenia, gave a very
dramatic overview of the need to save energy in the context of
protecting the country and planet from destructive climate
change. She gave the students a stirring message about spreading
the message in their homes and community. Environmental
educator Marine Nalbandyan contributed her advice on how energy
production, including renewable, should still respect the local
ecology. Various guests mentioned their desire to help in the
project. They included representatives from the local Marz
(municipality), the Ministry of Education and the Sustainable Tourism
Association (Arthur Voskanian, an alumnus of the Community Connection
delegation of tourism specialists who came in 2002.)
YEREVAN CLASSES
The Yerevan group is meeting weekly, and combined with these
activities will be lecture/discussions on a range of energy topics,
with resources provided by Marine Nalbandyan and Astghine
Pasoyan. Topics include:
- Energy resources and reserves in Armenia, how they are limited.
- Pressure on the environment from energy production, use and
exploration-- in Armenia and elsewhere in the world. Dangers of climate
change. Use of forest resources. Electro-energy. Air
quality and pollution. The heating system and methods in
Yerevan.
- Nuclear energy -- dangers and costs. Comparing different kinds of
reactors, including Medzamor, the local nuclear plant.
- Solar energy. Combining solar and other sources
particularly for a village or small town.
- Controlling, using energy efficiently, without losing it.The
economics of this.
- Wind energy today and tomorrow.
- The ecological future.
CAMBRIDGE CLASSES
The first class, spent in creating questions for Armenia , was
held on September 21, The second was held in the auditorium,
where students were quizzed on the information they had received from
Armenia in a kind of a "Jeopardy" quiz show format. It created
lots of enthusiasm, with the Acting Principal and Acting Vice Principal
present. The third, fourth and part of the fifth classes
were devoted to the Personal Energy Calculator. (See English and
Russian versions) The lesson was presented by Chaitra
Chandrasekhar of MIT students for Global Sustainability. For some
of these sessions, Beth Conlin of the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the
Environment attended to get a sense of how the Calculator might be
adapted to different ages. Originally designed for adult use, it
is being used for the first time with younger students.
The sixth class was held on October 28, MIT graduate student Elke
Hodson, who is President of MIT Students for Global Sustainability
presented a lesson on different amounts of electricity needed to power
two kinds of light bulbs, incandescent and compact fluorescent.
(Link to article from Cambridge Chronicle)
ENERGY USE -- A COMMON GLOBAL ISSUE
This project seeks to find out how best to communicate about a common
global issue, which people in the US and Armenia experience in
very different contexts. Armenia, deprived of oil and
an adequate gas supply, and with the future of its nuclear plant
in question, is under great pressure to meet its energy needs.
The US faces a different array of issues, with its reliance
on foreign oil and disproportionate consumption of energy per capita
compared to the rest of the world. This project focuses on energy
saving, because in both situations it is seen as a major factor in
solving both the problem of having an adequate supply and curbing
green house gas emissions which cause climate change.
The project was designed to have maximum input from professional
environmentalists, energy experts and members of the concerned
public. In Yerevan the initial workshop was organized with
the blessing of local officials and environmental activists, and
in Cambridge, student members of MIT's Alliance for Global
Sustainability have been guest teachers, and members of a new group
Green Decade Cambridge have been helping in the classroom, and serving
as a bridge to the community.
Information is being shared and questions discussed by students and
teachers in a Yahoo discussion forum, at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CYSCA-YCSCA-Science/
. In
addition Anna Karakhanyan has created a special website at
http://www.ann.am/Energy2004/
where photos and the "getting to
know you" questions and answers are posted. Further information is
posted on the Tobin School website at
http://www.cpsd.us/element/tobin/directory/Grade8/Energy_Project/Intro.html
SOME RESOURCES REMOMMENDED FOR PROJECT PARTICIPANTS: