FarmVille for agrivoltaics? Illinois team aims to teach solar concept with game
FarmVille for agrivoltaics? Illinois team aims to teach solar concept with game
FarmVille for agrivoltaics? Illinois team aims to teach solar concept with game
September 8, 2022
By Katie Pyzyk
Summary
An educational game designed to teach kids the emerging concept of agrivoltaics will get a test run this fall at two kid-friendly Midwest museums.
A team led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers is developing an educational game it hopes can inspire future farmers to think differently about solar power.
The game will be backed by science from the growing niche of research looking into how solar panel placement affects the growth of various crops.
"We want to make sure that the game is accurate for both the process of farming and behavior of crops, and how all the biological processes are impacted by the use of solar panels on the farm," said Scott Tuinstra, a project manager at Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Balance Studios, which the researchers enlisted to work on building the app.
Carl Bernacchi, an Illinois researcher who studies climate change's impacts on crops, recruited Lane to the project based on his research on teaching tactics, which he thinks could help bridge public knowledge gaps on scientific topics, including climate-conscious agriculture and agrivoltaics.
The app development team plans to continually update the game based on emerging scientific research.
Meantime, the team will continue to build up the app as additional cutting-edge agrivoltaics research is released.
Reference
Pyzyk, K. (2022, September 08). Illinois team develops agrivoltaics game. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://energynews.us/2022/09/08/farmville-for-agrivoltaics-illinois-team-aims-to-teach-solar-concept-with-game/