"Do Your Students Know Enough About Solar Energy?"

"Do Your Students Know Enough About Solar Energy?"

How to Create an Amazing Field Trip... and Have Fun Doing It!

Why is it that science field trips are so hard to plan and execute? Just finding an educational activity that your students will love is a big chore. And even after you wrestle a plan together, you have to make it work with almost no help. You spend the whole day running around and don't have time to enjoy the day with your students.

There just aren't enough outstanding science activities out there, and only a select few have a fanatical staff that will eliminate the frustrating busywork of a standard field trip.

What if The Discovery Center offered you a field trip opportunity that offered fun, hands-on learning that you were able to enjoy along with your students? You'd sign up right away, wouldn't you?

Imagine how much easier your next field trip will be now that you don't have to do everything yourself. You arrive at an all-inclusive science center with your students, hand things over to the on-site faculty, and enjoy the rest of the day with your students.

That's exactly what you'll see at your next Discovery Center field trip. You'll find dozens of valuable activities for your students to explore, and all of them are guided by our on-site experts.

Educational activities at The Discovery Center are developed by partnering with science experts in the community, such as this local Fresno couple:

Dr. William and Marie Pimentel are solar cooking experts, and they've traveled around the world teaching others how to capture light to cook food while conserving fuel, wood, and other natural resources.

Solar cookers cook food by converting sunlight into heat energy. No matter what type of solar cooker you use, you'll need the same basic elements: sunlight, a dark cooking pot, a transparent container for the pot, and shiny surfaces to reflect heat. Solar cookers don't work at nighttime, or on cloudy days, but can reach very high temperatures when left in a sunny spot outdoors.


Solar cookers cook food like a normal oven when placed in a warm, sunny area

The dark pot will get very hot when there is a lot of sun, and by tying the pot in a transparent cooking bag, you can trap the heat to cook many types of foods. Surrounding the pot with shiny surfaces will also help to collect light, further warming the contents of the cooking pot.


The dark pot and cooking back are integral parts of collecting heat energy for cooking from the sun

Marie Pimentel has over 14 years of experience teaching others the benefits of solar cooking in a number of countries. "There's a place for solar cooking no matter where you live," she said. The Pimentels own a number of solar cookers, made from everything from cardboard, to recycled plastics, to old newspaper page presses. However, all of these solar cookers share the same basic technology and promote the same "green" lifestyle by conserving fuel.

As experts on solar cooking, the Pimentels have traveled around the world promoting solar cooking on behalf of Rotary International. Dr. Pimentel has been a member of his Rotary club for 37 years, and his wife Marie is also an honorary member. Their club membership has helped them a great deal in raising funds for their educational travels, and helps them to promote their website, www.integratedsolarcooking.com.

Most recently, the Pimentels traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico to teach locals how to build and cook with solar cookers using simple materials. "Everything is done hands-on and in-country," said Marie. "We use local materials so that our students can adapt to solar cooking, and continue to teach it to others as well." While the students are entirely responsible for building and maintaining their solar cookers, the Pimentels provide the food for their classes.


Dr. Wildfred Pimentel sets up one of the solar cookers donated to their international program by a fellow Rotarian

The Pimentels purchase local ingredients to prepare meals during their solar cooking classes. In many countries, the residents are vegetarians, so they cook a great deal of vegetables, beans and rice. According to Marie, cooking begins at 185 degrees, and the cardboard cookers they help locals build can reach heats of 250 degrees, working much like a slow cooker would. Depending upon the type of solar cooker you use, you can cook almost anything you'd make in a normal oven. From brownies to a roast, you can cook almost anything in a solar cooker.

"Marie's applesauce is one of my favorite solar-cooked dishes," said Dr. Pimentel. It's also one of Marie's favorite dishes to prepare when teaching children about solar cooking. With apples and a little cinnamon, you've got a healthy and delicious solar-cooked snack with no sugar added. Simple dishes like these also lend themselves to a lifestyle where large quantities of food and fuel simply are not available.


Solar-cooked applesauce made in a Sun Oven

The Pimentels most frequently travel to very poor countries where food and fuel are scarce. By teaching locals how to use fewer resources when cooking, they enable them to provide more food for their families for generations to come. The Pimentels reach out to youth in particular, who they believe are the change-agents to improve conditions in their countries.

Be it Armenia, Mexico, or any number of African countries the Pimentels have visited, "the people we meet are what we really make our travels," says Marie. Having also recently traveled to Rwanda for a third time, Marie finds great pleasure in aiding families still struggling from the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. "The ladies there are so excited. The program is very empowering to women who've been really brought down in their societies. They receive a diploma, and are even recognized by local government ministers who come as honored guests to the final meal of the solar cooking class."


A meal prepared by local solar cooking students in Oaxaca, Mexico on one of the Pimentel's recent trips

Support for these empowering programs comes from local and international Rotary groups around the world, as well as non-governmental agencies within the host countries. The Pimentels are also actively involved in raising awareness and fundraising for the program. You can support their efforts to reduce world hunger through their website. Here, you can even purchase your own solar cooker for a suggested donation of $20, which directly supports the solar cooking program in developing nations.

As the sunlight is best for cooking in the spring months, the Pimentels do most of their traveling and teaching in the springtime. This spring, they'll be bringing their solar cooking class to The Discovery Center.

Earlier, we asked you what you'd say if The Discovery Center offered you a fun, hands-on field trip that you were able to enjoy along with your students. Since you're still reading, you must have said, "Yes!"

Now is your opportunity to schedule your next fantastic Discovery Center field trip, featuring solar cooking or any of our dozens of available topics. Call us today at 559-251-5533 to schedule a field trip date.

See you soon!