The GRID[subscript C] Project: Developing Students' Thinking Skills in a Data-Rich Environment

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using renewable energy data, obtained from a comprehensive data acquisition system, on improving students' learning and developing their higher-order learning skills. This study used renewable energy data available through a data acquisition system installed and tested by the Green Research for Incorporating Data in the Classroom (GRID[subscript C]) project. The purpose of GRID[subscript C] is to develop curriculum to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts using data collected from renewable energy technologies at the North Carolina Solar House (NC Solar House), located on the campus of North Carolina State University (NC State). This project enhances instruction and improves learning while addressing a highly relevant social issue--renewable energy. The GRID[subscript C] project gives professors, instructors, and their students the opportunity to study and evaluate the value of renewable energy systems through the use of real-time renewable energy data. The present analyses show significant gains in posttest renewable energy general knowledge scores. This indicates that the use of real-time renewable energy data was effective in instruction, providing students with valuable knowledge and skills that can be used for decision making. The results confirm the claims of previous studies that using real world data enhances instruction in various fields. The researchers also found significant gains in metacognitive performance, as measured by the metacognitive inventory. (Contains 10 tables.)