The Northwest Energy Tour includes the development and provision of didactically designed excursions for school classes to regional energy sites.

These include companies and other institutions that convert or specifically utilise energy.

The Energy Trail Northwest was recognised by the German UNESCO Commission as a project of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2011/2012.

Flyer and information on the current locations (27.5.2011)

The offer for schools
The Energy Trail Northwest offers a wide range of complementary offers on the future-relevant topic of "energy" from different perspectives.
The excursions offered in the Energy Trail Northwest

• are based on the curriculum of a school subject and a school level,
• are currently aimed at the school subjects of general studies, biology, physics, chemistry, Computing Science and maths,
• are action-orientated and practical,
• show interdisciplinary perspectives on the topic of energy in the regional energy industry
• contribute to career guidance through contact with companies,
• are didactically tested,
• promote the pupils' creative skills
• are supplemented by materials for preparation and follow-up work at school
• include the topics of climate change, sustainability and future energy supply
• and have been developed in the project "Education for sustainable energy supply and use" at the University of Oldenburg.

The benefits for the energy locations

Participating energy sites have the opportunity to open up to schools, to actively participate in sustainable education processes and to responsibly help shape the future of society through their involvement in participation with the specialised didactics of the University of Oldenburg.

Energy excursions give children and young people an insight into the world of work and careers, arouse their interest in technology and can thus counteract the shortage of skilled workers.
Students and staff from the university's didactics department work in close co-operation with the companies to develop a didactically prepared and company-specific concept for the school class visit. This includes exhibits, educational trails, experiments, posters and presentations.
The developed concept results in a script that is made available to the company for independent realisation of the school visit.
The energy locations determine the duration of the offer and the frequency of the visits. The companies' excursion offers are advertised via a web portal.

Is your company interested in offering excursions for schools?

The Northwest Energy Trail as a regional measure to promote education for sustainable development

The aim of the Energy Trail Northwest is to give school pupils an in-depth insight into the energy sector. At the energy sites, they can work on issues relating to energy supply and utilisation in a vivid way and in authentic contexts.

After visiting several of these energy sites, the pupils can compare different ways of using energy and recognise and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages for sustainable development processes themselves. The aim is to develop the pupils' "energy competence", which includes technical competence, but also competence in the evaluation of energy supply.

All excursions are organised in such a way that the aspects of CO2 emissions and renewable energy are discussed. The associated dilemmas are also addressed (e.g. the use of biogas plants with maize monocultures versus biodiversity or the use of wind energy in relation to ecological aspects such as bird migration).

In addition to the scientific and technical approach, economic topics (energy as a commodity) and social aspects (access to renewable energies) are also dealt with during the excursions.

Various didactic departments at the University of Oldenburg develop specific programmes in close cooperation with the energy location.

The programmes can range from company study visits, expert lectures and discussion rounds to topic-specific experimental programmes. For example, pupils in year 7 learn from a geothermal energy company how the seemingly cold earth can heat a house.

Contact:

Project coordination:
Dr Verena Niesel
Didaktisches Zentrum (DIZ) der Uni Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstr. 114-118, 26129 Oldenburg
Tel: 0441 / 798 4080, Fax: 0441 / 798 4900
Email:

Project leader:

Prof Dr Michael Komorek
Physics Didactics
University of Oldenburg

Co-operation partners:

Regional Education Network, Climate & Energy of the City of Oldenburg
Christel Sahr
Email:

Co-operation partner:

OLEC Oldenburger Energiecluster e.V

We are involved: