GRIDc II: Green Research for Incorporating Data in the Classroom Phase 2

North Carolina State University (NCSU), in partnership with North Carolina Community Colleges has successfully launched a program in renewable energy technologies, Green Research for Incorporating Data in the Classroom (GRIDc). This continuing project, GRIDcII, establishes a cyber-learning environment in which STEM students with varied learning styles access real-time data for use in classroom instruction. GRIDcII, builds upon the project team's past success to develop the higher order thinking skills of undergraduate students in the context of a data-rich learning environment. Real-time data on renewable energy technologies from multiple systems (e.g., solar, wind, electric, alternative fuels) is collected and stored in a central location. The Solar House at NCSU, one of the most visible and visited solar buildings in the United States, provides the location for many of the renewable energy technologies with additional technologies in North Carolina being added to the data grid system. Data is available for uploading into an Internet-based data acquisition system where the data may be accessed by faculty and undergraduate students for use in classroom instruction. Faculty teaching STEM courses are developing an understanding for the effectiveness of an integrated, data-rich curriculum to teach STEM concepts and support students' cognitive skills. Assessment instrumentation measures the students' common core of knowledge associated with renewable energy technologies and validates this knowledge for use in different undergraduate courses at multiple 4-year and 2-year institutions. Partnerships with community colleges create new avenues for post-secondary collaboration. Middle and high school students are impacted through the participation of their pre-service and in-service STEM teachers. This project creates an infrastructure for continuing research on cyber-learning education across the nation.