A collective of winter ski resorts has created a think tank in which proposals to alleviate their energy problems will be created and explored. Currently these ski towns utilize vast amounts of energy in the winter months while their energy demands during summer months is greatly reduced. In accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the collective desires to focus on goal number 7 “Affordable and Clean Energy”. They believe achieving this goal is a responsible action and will ultimately create opportunities to expand their local economies outside of the winter season.
Currently, the collective employs the use of large scale renewable energy such as solar farms, wind farms, and hydro-electric generation, as such your team should focus on smaller scale solutions that can be used to supplement existing energy production.
The leader of the think tank has supplied the following flow chart to assist in organization and assure forward progression. Below you will find further explanation of each step. When you see the lightbulb symbol, the leader has added useful links to help your team move forward.
Step 1 : Familiarize
The first step to take is for your team to familiarize yourselves with the issue and the current situation. To help illustrate the need for clean energy, one of the ski resorts has offered data about their energy use. With the ever-changing climate the need for these resorts to supplement natural snowfall has and likely will continue to increase, along with electricity demand.
Individually, brainstorm and research to uncover as many clean energy sources as possible. Write each energy source on a PostIt note. After 10 minutes, reconvene with your team. Now, using a whiteboard or table, discuss each members clean energy source and rank them from most important and adaptable to least. Place the most agreed upon energy sources towards the top of the whiteboard. When discussing each source, take the climate and land space into consideration. Try to narrow the options down to one energy source that the team can agree on.
Step 2 : (Co)Create
Now that your team has become more informed about the issue and technologies available it is time to think about how these energy sources can be adapted to a ski resort. This is a good time to research existing technologies and develop a plan to adapt them to the situation. Creativity is the name of the game in this step, so you are strongly encouraged to think outside the box. Discuss any and all ideas you may have with your team, you may find some ideas have serious drawbacks but considering these is paramount to creating a successful product. The team leader has provided a few resources of alternative energy sources. If you have not yet chosen a technology to use, it can be useful to draw inspiration from these existing ideas.
Once an idea has formed take the next step to bring the idea into reality, do so by drawing a sketch of the adapted energy source. Do not focus on artistic accuracy or ability, rather illustrate the idea using a simplistic sketch. Each member should make a sketch and once complete the team should discuss the sketches. During this step it is important to collectively consider any potential problems or drawbacks with the design and theorize solutions to these issues. A useful link has been provided to help learn more about design sketching.
Combining the best parts of each sketch and the discussions thereafter, with your team you will create a physical representation of your adaptation or idea. Use the materials provided by your team leader (cardboard, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, string, wire, tape, glue, markers, paint, or other accessible items). The objective at this point is to bring the product from the drawing board into physical space. The final result does not need to function, rather it should clearly illustrate the functionality of your design. If you would like more guidance about how to do this, watch the video below.
Step 3 : Exhibit
The final stage of this exercise is to present your idea. In this scenario you will be presenting your idea to investors and stakeholders of the collective. Your goal is to clearly introduce your idea or adaptation, what benefits it has, and its potential for adaptation or scalability elsewhere. Your presentation will be in-person and you will showcase your design process and the physical representation your team created. It will be necessary to create a design poster to clearly showcase your product and its features. The team leader has included a useful video to help in this.
If you choose to create a 3D virtual model, this may also be included. You may choose to supplement your presentation with the use of digital tools such as PowerPoint or KeyNote, but this will only serve to compliment your physical representations and the whiteboard along side a product design poster. Remember, the more detailed information you can convey to support your idea, the higher likely hood that your idea will move forward.
This presentation will also afford time for the stakeholders to weigh in with their ideas for improvement or problem prevention. It is vital that your team note and incorporate this feedback into your design idea when possible.
After your presentation, you will assume the role of stakeholder for other teams’ presentations. During this time be sure to think critically about each teams’ proposals, how can you help them improve? Be ready to ask questions and propose constructive ideas to help them further refine their products.
Once all teams have presented and gathered feedback regroup with your team. You will now share the feedback you noted and discuss which suggestions have merit and why or why not. It is important to incorporate your peers ideas into your product, where possible. The last step is to consider the proposed suggestions and devise a strategy to implement them in your design. At what stage will the suggestions be added?
Congratulations!
You have completed this think-tank exercise but more important than the completion is the reflection. Think about the ideas you and your peers generated, some of them may not have been implementable, but even those ideas helped lead towards better suited ones and provoked thought into what was or could be possible. Remember that the process of ingenuity greatly hinges on the strategy of trial and error and the efficacy of this concept is greatly improved when collaborating in a team.
Your final task is to preform a self-evaluation of your experience. In this you will gauge your and your peer’s participation, motivation, and enjoyment. The objective here is not to assess the final product, rather the journey you took to get there.
Use the following assessment sheet to self-assess. Each branch of the 100 points is worth 10 points.
10 Points: Perfectly done, all requirements were met and surpassed.
7–9 Points: Very good, some pieces were not done completely or throughly.
4–6 Points: Met expectations, but did not engage well with the task.
1–3 points: Did not participate or participated minimally in the task.
Sources
Brace, Andrew. “How to Make a Cardboard Prototype.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Dec. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_9Q-KDSb9o.
Design Talk. “Poster Design with CANVA.” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Feb. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2MFJEmnrj4.
Farrell, Tyler. “Evaluating the Potential for Renewable Energy Technology at US Ski Resorts.” Dartmouth Digital Commons, 2019, https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/engs86/2/.
G. Epstein, R. Dixon, and B. McCowan, “Energy Efficiency Opportunities for Ski Industry Snowmaking Processes,” p. 14.
Quevillon, Karen. “Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy: 3 Ways to Reshape the Pyramid.” Top Hat, 15 Sept. 2021, https://tophat.com/blog/blooms-revised-taxonomy-pyramid/.
Sanabria, J. & Sánchez-Escobedo, P. (2017). Evaluación de un Modelo de Inmersión Gradual Educativo Digital. In Sumozas, R. & Nieto, E. (Eds.) Evaluación de la Competencia Digital Docente (pp. 123–133). Editorial Síntesis.
United Nations. “Goal 7 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” United Nations, United Nations, 2022, https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7.