This paper describes a non-classical logic course primarily indicated for graduate students in electrical engineering and energy engineering. The content of this course is based on the vision that it is not enough for a student to indefinitely accumulate knowledge; it is necessary to explore all the occasions to update, deepen, and enrich that…

A Genecon is an inexpensive hand-cranked dc electric generator. You can use it to charge a one-farad supercapacitor. If you stop cranking the handle, the capacitor will discharge, sending a current into the Genecon and thereby causing the handle to start turning as an electric motor. How does the current direction compare before and after you stop…

Robust and fast methods for chemical or multiphase equilibrium calculation are routinely needed by chemical-process engineers working on sizing or simulation aspects. Yet, while industrial applications essentially require calculation tools capable of discriminating between stable and nonstable states and converging to nontrivial solutions,…

Understanding the impact of workshops that include mobile demonstrations for describing technical applications can be useful when planning an Extension program on new energy technologies. We used a mobile demonstration in a workshop that provided information on small-scale on-farm biodiesel production. Evaluation of the workshop outcomes…

Aaron Sebens and his fourth grade students received this congratulatory tweet from the White House as a response to the solar-powered classroom that they created in 10 weeks. The process--defining the goals, raising funds, construction, and implementation--involved many subject areas: reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. This…

Professional development (PD) on approaches to curriculum integration (CI) continues to be essential for teachers to stay abreast of developments to improve student performance in their courses while also supporting learning and achievement in core subjects. We aimed to explore and derive meaning from the shared experiences of six agriculture…

Physical design projects are a way to motivate and engage students in authentic science and engineering practices. Web-based tools can support design projects to ensure that students address and reflect upon critical science concepts during the course of the project. In addition, by specifying challenging design goals that require students to…

The construction of a voltaic pile (battery) is a simple laboratory activity that commemorates the invention of this important device and is of great help in teaching physics. The voltaic pile is often seen as a scientific toy, with the "pile" being constructed from fruit. These toys use some strips of copper and zinc inserted in a piece…

Typical commercial solar panels consist of approximately 60 individual photovoltaic cells connected in series. Since the usual Kirchhoff rules apply, the current is uniform throughout the circuit, while the electric potential of the individual devices is cumulative. Hence, a solar panel is a good analog of a simple resistive series circuit, except…

The use of wind as a replenishable energy resource has come back into favour in recent decades. It is much promoted as a viable, clean energy option that will help towards reducing CO[subscript 2] emissions in the UK. This article examines the history of wind power and considers the development of wind turbines, together with their economic,…

This paper presents several methods for motivating students taking a power system protection (PSP) course. The paper reviews the laboratory activities developed for the PSP course at Curtin University, Australia; these methods are applicable and can be used for PSP course instruction at any institution. These activities were developed to improve…

How should the strategies and regulations of the Mexican laws be designed in order to trigger a country to go from a non-sustainable energy economy towards a sustainable energy economy? This paper proposes a classroom debate of the reformed Law of Public Electricity Service in Mexico (LSPEE, 1992: Ley del Servicio Publico de Energia Electrica),…

Peer-to-peer learning is gaining increasing attention in nonformal community-based environmental education. This article evaluates a novel modification of a concept for peer-to-peer learning about residential energy solutions (Open Homes). We organized collective "Energy Walks" visiting several homes with novel energy solutions and…

There is a worldwide trend to modernize old power grid infrastructures to form future smart grids, which will achieve efficient, flexible energy consumption by using the latest technologies in communication, computing, and control. Smart grid initiatives are moving power systems curricula toward smart grids. Although the components of smart grids…

Al Bartlett's video "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" spells out many of the complex issues related to energy use in our society. Bartlett makes the point that basic arithmetic is the fundamental obstacle preventing us from being able to grasp the relationships between energy consumption, population, and lifestyles. In an earlier…