STEM Futures: Renewable Innovation for a Sustainable Climate

In this interdisciplinary unit, students explore renewable energy through Science, Mathematics, and Design and Technology. Throughout the lessons they investigate renewable energy solutions, their impact on Earth's spheres, climate action, and sustainability. They also explore the roles of science, technology, and design in energy transmission, battery storage, and solar farm optimisation, alongside career opportunities in the clean energy sector.

Developed in partnership with the Queensland Government through Queensland's Clean Energy Workforce Roadmap and alongside industry experts the Clean Energy Council,  this unit has been designed to allow students to:

• understand the impact of renewable energy on Earths spheres and its role in mitigating climate change
• investigate Renewable Energy Zones (REZs), specific Queensland renewable energy projects and their associated careers to explore the role they play in the global effort to minimise the effects of climate change
• explore innovative materials, technologies and careers that impact renewable energy and sustainability
• investigate the planning, design and construction of electricity transmission through the lens of design and technologies occupations, understanding the ethical and sustainability considerations
• explore grid-scale battery technologies, analyse the materials and components used, and evaluate their impact and sustainability
• apply knowledge of trigonometry to solve practical problems related to optimising the direction and tilt angles of solar panels
• Learn about the ethical and sustainability factors relevant to professions in the clean energy sector and understand how these jobs respect communities, protect the environment, and promote sustainability.

The lessons have been designed to empower educators to deliver clean energy content, build students STEM skills across multiple subjects and increase their awareness of clean energy career opportunities, highlighting connections between STEM knowledge and the renewable energy context.

This STEM Futures: Energy Careers program consists of lessons and resources that highlight projects, people and careers in Queensland through case studies and video content. They are aligned to the Australian Curriculum 9.0 but can be used in various teaching and learning contexts. The program allows students to learn subject-specific knowledge, concepts and skills in the context of real-world Queensland and Australian renewable energy projects and empowers them to understand how their subject knowledge can be applied to careers and industries in this vital sector.

Cool.org recommends that Science, Mathematics and Design and Technologies educators collaborate to deliver these resources across their respective subjects so students can understand the content from multiple perspectives.