Problem-Based Learning in University Studies on Renewable Energies: Case of a Laboratory Windpump

Alain Ulazia,Gabriel Ibarra-Berastegi

doi:10.3390/su12062495

Abstract

In the last eight years, the new faculty of Engineering in Renewable Energies at the University of the Basque Country in Eibar has developed several sustainability goals related to clean energy and climate change, but also in educative terms related to co-operative learning, motivation, and reflective thinking. The case of the laboratory-windpump challenge is paradigmatic in this sense, since it constitutes successful problem-based learning for the students in terms of the activation of heuristic tools (analogies or diagrams), critical discussions combining complex ideas about aerodynamics, mechanics and hydraulics, and a good group atmosphere. The conclusions of this work are supported by qualitative and quantitative results within a theoretical background based on the logic of discovery and its corresponding constructive-learning strategy, rather than on the logic of justification with given and well-known aprioristic assumptions.

Highlights

The pioneering faculty of Engineering in Renewable Energies in the University of Basque Country (Engineering School of Gipuzkoa at Eibar, [1]) is a challenging educational project that is tied in with the global sustainability agenda due to the importance of renewable energies in clean-energy production and in the fight against climate change [2].The new grade started eight years ago with 70 students, and it has maintained these registration figures
In the last eight years, the new faculty of Engineering in Renewable Energies at the University of the Basque Country in Eibar has developed several sustainability goals related to clean energy and climate change, and in educative terms related to co-operative learning, motivation, and reflective thinking
The case of the laboratory-windpump challenge is paradigmatic in this sense, since it constitutes successful problem-based learning for the students in terms of the activation of heuristic tools, critical discussions combining complex ideas about aerodynamics, mechanics and hydraulics, and a good group atmosphere

Summary

Introduction

The pioneering faculty of Engineering in Renewable Energies in the University of Basque Country (Engineering School of Gipuzkoa at Eibar, [1]) is a challenging educational project that is tied in with the global sustainability agenda due to the importance of renewable energies in clean-energy production and in the fight against climate change [2].The new grade started eight years ago with 70 students, and it has maintained these registration figures. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2495 wind turbines (VAWT) based mainly on the drag force are very important for small wind energy production [28]. This kind of small turbines can be used for electricity production or storage in isolated locations hybridising it with solar energy, and for the integration of wind energy in buildings [13,27,29]. One of the advantages of drag-force based wind turbines is that its tip-speed ratio (the ratio between the tip speed of the blade and the wind speed) should be low and this turbine is a ‘slow machine’.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion