Jan Post reports on: Translating his PhD research in a teaching package

Translation of my PhD research in a teaching package
for secondary school students:

"The joy of discovering is often the motive of a PhD student for his/her scientific research.

Also for me it all started with the dream that my PhD project would change the world. Although it is known for more than half a century, I will never forget the day I discovered myself the huge potential of salinity-gradient energy, or so-called Blue Energy.

Wherever in the world fresh water and salt water are mixing, think of estuaries, sustainable electricity can be generated by using membrane-based techniques. The estimated potential is 2.4 TW, which is about 20% of the global energy demand..."

Jan Post has also earned his SENSE A2 credits by doing this inspiring project.

Photo: Impression of kick-off meeting for development of the NLT module ‘Blue Energy’

The joy of discovering, the magic of science… From our early childhood, we all remember the astonishment we experienced the first time that we saw this physical or that biological phenomenon. However, with the first signs of puberty most of us lost interest in science. The challenge for teachers at secondary schools is to intrigue adolescents again for science. The Dutch government introduced a new subject that would help to receive their attention. This subject is called Nature, Life & Technology (NLT). NLT is a combination of the so-called beta-subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, maths and physical geography). NLT shows the students how to apply and combine these disciplines in a specific practical case, which could never be covered in the traditional education model of mono-disciplinary subjects. Case studies (40 h) are developed concerning the newest techniques in medicine, agriculture, forensic techniques, space travel, cosmetics, in short: everything that has to do with science and technique.

The introduction of new case studies for NLT provided me the chance to do an attractive Sense A2 project: developing a teaching package on my own topic, Blue Energy. Together with a team of secondary school teachers (physical geography, chemistry, and physics) and colleagues from Wetsus, we wrote a reader and a guide for the teachers. I was involved as author and expert in the field.

During the developing process (September 2007 till January 2008), I learned a lot about educational principles. As an expert, for instance, I was inclined to spoil the joy of discovery by explaining every detail. Let the students have their own Eureka-moments! Besides, I learned from the multi-disciplinary team to broaden my vision on my own project as I found the geographical aspect was underexposed. And wasn’t that the intention of the SENSE A2 course?

Jan Post

Environmental Technology WUR/Wetsus