High Tech Middle – North County, Silicon Solar Education Outreach

The High Tech Middle – North County is a middle school located in San Marcos, CA. Their 6th and 8th graders currently have a solar project. Every student is given a motor and a solar panel, and they will build a solar powered toy car by themselves using their own creativity combined with the new solar technology.

The purpose of the event is to educate the next generation about the renewable and sustainable solar technology in order to build a better future for the earth and every species. Using video and different tools will allow students to understand the general idea of  how solar energy and systems work. At a presentation given October 4, 2013, Silicon Solar engineers explained different general ideas and knowledge about solar energy,  such as explaining the differences between off grid system, grid tied system, and solar hot water systems. Also they showed students different applications of solar energy, such as solar battery chargers for mobile devices, solar lights, solar water pumps, etc. This presentation will help students understand there is no limit for solar power!

Students were given a solar panel and a motor, and they are allowed to pick their materials. The materials they pick are limited and they have to be something that can be found and reused, such as plastic bottles, plastic bags, cardboard, etc. This helps the students to understand there are limited resources and we should reuse different materials instead of throwing them away after the first time usage.  All materials they used were recorded and the reason is because we are trying to demonstrate the importance of resource management.