Today's generation of children and young people face the challenge of making the transition to a sustainable energy economy based on renewable energies. A comprehensive concept is needed to raise awareness of energy saving and renewable energy among schoolchildren and young people.

In order to increase the acceptance of renewable energies among children and young people and to support teachers in preparing their lessons, the Federal Ministry for the Environment has awarded the research project "Environmental Education Renewable Energies for Children and Young People" to a project consortium with the participation of the IZT as part of the 2003 Environmental Research Plan. The research project has two objectives:

  • The realisation of a campaign (practical part with evaluation of the response) and
  • researching transferable materials for teaching (scientific part).

The scientific part of the project, which can be found on the www.izt.de/eejug of the IZT includes the results of a broad research of existing teaching materials and concepts that can be regarded as particularly useful for educational practice.

The results are presented on the website in the form of two lists (pdf files) with overviews of various teaching materials. The collected materials were systematically analysed and described according to a standardised structure grid. We selected more than 70 examples from the wide range of possible materials and categorised them systematically into different subject areas such as energy, renewable energies, energy and the environment or photovoltaics. The materials are divided into information and teaching materials for both teachers and pupils.