How students of primary school understand large scale energy systems: the case of thermal power plant

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of a constructivist teaching intervention on 6th gradestudents' cognitive progress on large-scale Energy Generation Systems (EGS), specifically on a ThermalPower Plant (TPP). This intervention was designed according to the constructivist approach for teachingand learning science, and it can be described as an autonomous teaching module appropriate for anelementary science curriculum. With the application of this intervention in real classroom settings, themajority of students were able to construct sufficient technological and scientific knowledge in order todescribe and explain the operation of a TPP in qualitative energy terms, as our research data ascertained