Providing Deep, Foundational Learning in an Introductory Energy Systems & Sustainability Course

An understanding of current energy issues is becoming increasingly important, given that energy influences many aspects of modern life. It was with this in mind that a new course entitled Energy Systems & Sustainability was developed. This work explores the impacts the course had on student understanding of energy issues. Both student work and student surveys were examined. Due to small class sizes, a more qualitative and in-depth approach was taken. From this it was found that within the area of terminology, the concepts of power and energy caused significant issues for students. Furthermore, quantifying the impacts of technology from a sustainability perspective, especially with respect to society and the environment, proved challenging. With these specific areas identified, it will be up to future work to find mechanisms to address these pitfalls in subsequent offerings of this and other related courses.