Science Experiments on
Renewable EnergieS
Comenius Multilateral Partnership 2013-2015
First project meeting at Istituto di Istruzione Superiore "Erasmo da Rotterdam", Nichelino/Torino, Italy
In the week 18th-23rd of November 2013 took place the first project meeting of the project "Science Experiments on Renewable EnergieS" at Istituto di Istruzione Superiore "Erasmo da Rotterdam" Nichelino/Torino, Italy. At this meeting had participated groups of teachers and pupils from all the partner schools: France (2 teachers - 6 pupils), Romania (4 teachers - 4 pupils), Lithuania (2 teachers - 2 pupils), Turkey (3 teachers - 3 pupils), Netherlands (3 teachers - 4 pupils) and of course the hosting Italian teachers and pupils. The programme of the meeting for the four working days was extremely interesting and according to our project objectives.
In the first morning, after a warm welcome speech held by the principal of the hosting school, every team introduced themselves and presented their school, town and one of the choosed renewable energy: France - solar energy, Romania - water energy, Turkey - geothermal energy, Lithuania - energy produced from biomass, Netherlands - wind energy and Italy - smart energetic systems.
In the afternoon we visited the unique solar tower and the fotovoltaic sunflowers, in the neibourhood of the school. At first we assisted at the presentation of the making of the sun tower, in which our host, professor Dario Barca had an important contribution.
Then we entered the physics lab where we split into groups in order to make a funny experiment ilustrating the principle of the electric motor, with simple materials.
After the experiment we visited the exhibition of all kind of devices that can conduct to reduce energy and water consumption in our homes or can product energy (for example when you make some exercises on the running band you can produce electric energy enough to light some bulbs).
Second day was dedicated to Turin visit, an interesting town with many historical places. The best experience was Mole Antonelliana and the Movie Museum, very appreciated by both teachers and pupils.
On the third day we visited in the morning the Environmental Park Torino, where we had the opportunity to observe a lot of electric vehicles, experiments conducted on various materials with plasma for improving their properties, ways of producing biomass and other researches. We learned many new things about hydrogen combustion cell and we interract with a group of University students on this theme. In the afternoon we visited Fiat Center of Research, but for security reasons we could not take photos. We were impressed about the concern of the Fiat group about the environmental problems and about their improvements at the car parts.
Last day began at hosting school, by announcing the winners of the logo/slogan/poster contest. Turkey team was the winner for logo and slogan (see the section of Project Outcomes) and Romanian team the winner for poster. After we were invited to the Nichelino city hall, where a conference about renewable energies and enviromental issues was held.
After a short free time, we met in the evening to take a pleasant and funny dinner together, pupils and teachers.
In conclusion, the first project meeting was a complete success, reaching all the objectives of the project. Special thanks for the Italian pupils and their families who took good care of all the foreign children, making them feeling like home.