STEM ACTIVITIES TO EXPLORE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF SOLAR ENERGY.

The pollution caused by burning fossil fuels made people search for using alternative energy sources. Beside the development of research on the use of renewable energy sources, the education on renewable energy sources and environmental protection is also important among the new generation. The reason why the effective methods should be chosen for the new generations' gaining the root knowledge of the trendy solar energy is making them consciously choose and study on this fields. Therefore, it important to explore firstly fundamental knowledge of high school students. The target of this study is to analyze students' solar energy knowledge and misconceptions with STEM project-based activities, such as efficiency of solar cell at high or low temperature, effect of different coloured light on output of solar cell. In this study, 15 open-ended questions was administered to 127 high school students to better understand their conceptions of solar energy and individual interview used when students perform their project based learning activities. Analysis revealed that students are familiar with solar energy but most of the students are not sure how solar cell works and role of heat in the function of solar cells. Also we discovered some additional students' misconceptions about solar energy like red colour has higher energy than blue light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]