Pedagogical Strategies for Renewable Energy Education in Elementary Schools
Abstract
The energy sector and the energy transition are central issues in global debates. Education also plays a key role in finding solutions to sustainable development, and when initiated in childhood, this education process helps form more conscious citizens. This paper presents pedagogical strategies developed by the project Sustainability is a Child's Matter, with a focus on renewable energies, such as development of materials in a child and youth-friendly language, gamification, hands-on experiments, interactive activities and training for teachers. Since its beginning, in 2023, the project has already served more than 600 elementary school students from different schools in Florianópolis, Brazil, and provided training to 43 teachers. These activities help to minimize gaps highlighted in literature, like lack of teaching materials, limited time for teachers to prepare materials and the absence of partnerships with existing projects. Moreover, the project aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4, SDG 7 and SDG 13.
Keywords
renewable energies, education, elementary schools, SDGs