Oaklands Community College, Offaly and Edenderry Power Investigate the World’s Future Energy Supply!
Ciaran Petit, Teacher with Oaklands Community College, reflects on this investigation.
Having been working together on Skills @ Work for the past number of years, the ‘Optional Session’ each year has often proven to be one of the most innovative and enjoyable for the students who have been involved in team building exercises and brainstorming sessions.
This year Mr Tom Egan, Plant Manager with Edenderry Power set our students the challenge of investigating where future energy supplies might come from. They were asked to prepare a presentation outlining their findings for Tom.
The question immediately gained the students interest. They quickly decided that they wanted it to be more than just a PowerPoint presentation. They wanted to show Tom what they do/learn in school and apply this to a real world situation/ real world problem. They spoke to their Physics Teacher, Ms Mahon, who helped them to set up a number of experiments to demonstrate how future energy can be generated from solar, wind, biomass and tidal.
The presentation went well with four experiments delivered and explained and backed up with research the students had carried out themselves. Our SBP Coordinator told the students that is was one of the most interactive sessions she saw this year and Tom told the students their efforts were ‘absolutely excellent’, which made all their efforts worthwhile!
The students have gained so much from our link with Edenderry Power Plant such as;
1. The ability to stand up in front of senior management and deliver a presentation
2. Applied the skills they learn in school to a real life problem
3. Learned valuable knowledge for their Leaving Certificate
4. Increased confidence and improved communication skills.
Here’s to next year!
Photos: Students from Oaklands CC during the World’s Future Supply Investigation.
