2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Sonoran Desert Photovoltaics Laboratory (SPV Lab) is an NSF-funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program that aims to organize a regional approach to pursuing an interconnected set of site-specific photovoltaic (PV) engineering research projects for K-12 STEM teachers along the corridor between two metropolitan cities co-located in a Desert region of the US. Specifically, SPV Lab faculty and graduate students across two university campuses partner with teachers and students to spread PV research experiences to schools serving students from populations historically minoritized in engineering. Using shared data platforms and teacher-developed curriculum modules, the SPV Lab network forms an inclusive and diverse community of school-based citizen scientist who are committed to learning and contributing to agrivoltaics, a novel approach to coupling solar energy production with agriculture to power panels, plants, and people.

During a six-week RET summer program, teachers are co-located in a university research lab where they (a) learn PV content knowledge, including understanding what is currently known about agrivoltaics systems around the globe, (b) engage in engineering research practices as they conduct their own agrivoltaics research, (c) and co-develop curriculum and resources to support school-based agrivoltaics citizen science. Returning to their campuses in the fall, teachers lead their students in agrivoltaics research across the school year. Students build two mirror garden beds on their campus, one with solar panels over the crops (experimental) and one without solar panels (control). Using digital sensors, they collect, analyze, and interpret data to address three core research questions: (a) how do solar panels impact garden microclimates, (b) how does placing solar panels over growing crops influence efficiency, and (c) how can agrivoltaics benefit people in our desert communities? Students then submit lab reports to share their results across the SPV Lab network (i.e., other schools, university researchers, and community partners) using a shared virtual platform in order to collectively create new regional scientific knowledge to benefit their communities.

Now heading into its third year, SPV Lab has developed a strong learning and sharing community that continues to support teacher participants and students across multiple years. The SPV Lab poster for this session will share research and evaluation results based on data collected over the first two years of the program.