New Solar Station will Enhance Learning and Save the Black River Falls School District money

A new tracking solar station was installed just outside Black River Falls High School two weeks ago. Soon teachers will be able to use the data from the station to educate their students in an innovative and hands on way.

The Black River Falls school district won't just be saving some money with a new solar panel station. It'll also be helping kids learn. The school district funded the solar tracking system through a combination of grants and fund-raising efforts. It says the solar panel will help save hundreds of dollars each year on energy costs, but teachers say the educational benefits far outweigh the money.

"The BRAGS, which stands for Black River Area Green School, does community service project based service projects that are based on environmental things and green technology, and this is a whole community-wide project that got this put together," says Assistant Principal at Black River Falls High School and Director of BRAGS Mark Weddig.

Chris Tallent is one of the students at the brags charter school and is excited getting hands on experience with solar power given the research he's been doing looking for alternatives to fossil fuel. "I found that solar energy is one of the best out there." He says even on a cloudy January day; it's still producing energy.

"It's actually pretty fun. It just, for me it gives me an extra learning opportunity that others wouldn't," says fellow student Nevada Martin.

"We felt the need to have solar power. Not only for the economic reasons of saving the district some money, but this will serve as a great tool that the district can use in education as a teaching tool," explains Quinn Robinson. Robinson is an instructor at BRAGS and says all the data from the station will go on the BRAGS website for students and teachers to use.

"Using that to look at meteorological data compared to how much energy is created and we'll be writing up lesson plans for our elementary students to use this. So from an educational stand point the whole district can use it," says Weddig.

School board member and parent Susan Olstad says the solar panels are sparking curiosity and learning even with her kids. "They said what was that and I had to talk to them about solar panels. So this is a great opportunity to educate the younger students as well."

The assistant principal at Black River Falls High School says this is an asset to the community and hopes other students will look into such investments. The data will be up on the web in about two weeks.

SOURCE: http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/New_solar_station_will_enhance_learning_and_save_the_Black_River_Falls_School_District_money_137315423.html