Biomass for the Future - Norway

Which of the C’s did you choose?

Citizenship

Why did you choose them? (What did you want the students to develop?)

Citizenship is something we need to focus on in school, particularly when society has become more and more polarized and individualized. A sense of belonging and a feeling of taking responsibility for more than oneselfcan contribute to the student’s self-esteem and accomplishment.

Which activities did you selected to support the development of these C’s?

The 10th graders at our school visited a biomass plant: https://ecopro.no/

We got to see how the plant receives human waste and sewage and how they make alternative energy from this material. We have often discussed the purpose of recycling and what really happens to our waste. After our visit the students got to work in groups and were given three tasks they could choose from:

•  What will it take for Verdal municipality to be able to use bio gas for their cars? (infrastructure, cars etc.)

• How would you market the products of Ecopro? (advertising – film/video)

• How will Ecopro develop in the future? (vision – future prospects – development in geography,

  product, market)

  A couple of days later the project manager came to our school and the students presented their work.

How did you experience the impact of the activities on the students?

The students gained knowledge about the topic of renewable energy in addition to give insight to how we can use our waste. They were suggestive and creative in their work and saw the importance of taking responsibility for our ways of living/ lifestyles/ consumer society.
Since we did this at the end of the school year the students were maybe not so motivated, so I could maybe have started a little earlier plus maybe tied it better with the curriculum to the different school subjects.