Offshore wind power is a primary renewable energy source for energy transition which plays a central role in achieving carbon neutrality. However, offshore wind power development projects face complex issues, including site selection, permitting proce...
Offshore wind power is a primary renewable energy source for energy transition which plays a central role in achieving carbon neutrality. However, offshore wind power development projects face complex issues, including site selection, permitting procedures, conflicts among stakeholders, and a lack of information. To resolve these problems, education capable of enhancing individual interest and understanding is necessary, and it is essential for shaping future generations' energy awareness and expanding their acceptance.
This study explored how elementary school students near offshore wind farms in Jeju Island perceived and gave meaning to offshore wind power, starting from their everyday experiences. Offshore wind projects in Jeju Island encompassed complex issues among the local community and various stakeholders, such as marine ecosystem destruction, fishing industry damage, and landscape degradation, while efforts to secure social acceptance and resolve conflicts coexisted.
An offshore wind power education program based on local-based learning principles was developed and applied during regular school hours, aiming to analyze its impact on students' local identity and renewable energy perceptions. During the research process, the education program was developed and applied according to the ADDIE model. The program’s components included media-assisted learning using picture books and digital devices, inquiry-based learning, role-playing, and collaborative discussion activities. This study, as a qualitative case study, deeply explored the meaning of offshore wind power within students’ everyday experiences and contexts, and it employed both in-depth interviews and surveys to confirm changes in local understanding and renewable energy perceptions. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed, including student activity outcomes. The study participants were 7 students from A Elementary School and 46 students from B Elementary School, located near offshore wind farms in Jeju Island.
Before the education, students perceived offshore wind turbines, which are energy-generating facilities, simply as decorative structures or energy-consuming facilities. They felt dissatisfaction regarding landscape damage and vague fears about ecosystem or local infrastructure destruction caused by damage to wind turbines. This suggested that mere exposure to the physical environment limited concept formation and indicated the absence of formal education on renewable energy sources like offshore wind power. This study showed that despite elementary students' initially limited perceptions of offshore wind power, the local-based offshore wind power education program contributed to strengthening students' local belonging and identity. In local-based learning using local resources, forming a connection between the resource and the learner was more important than physical accessibility to the local resource. Through local-based learning, students newly discovered local resources they had not previously recognized and demonstrated connecting the offshore wind farm, a local resource, to the region's symbol and their own identity. After the education, students perceived offshore wind farms as ‘symbols of our village,’ and some students showed interest in careers related to offshore wind power. This study revealed that local-based learning not only emphasized the unique characteristics of a region but also, by mediating through local resources, helped increase interest in national issues such as climate change and renewable energy, and fostered glocal thinking. This is expected to contribute to expanding the theoretical horizon of local-based learning.
Students' perceptions of renewable energy expanded to a multifaceted understanding, including not only the safety and eco-friendliness of offshore wind power but also its complex potential impacts on marine ecosystems, along with an enhancement in critical thinking skills. However, by focusing solely on offshore wind power, the education program unintentionally reduced students' positive perception in other renewable energy sources. The reduction in positive perception towards other renewable energy sources was an unintended outcome of the study.
This study conceptualized offshore wind power education not as a mere part of science education, but as an integrated approach encompassing the offshore wind industry, marine environmental education, and energy education. As a result, students struggled to understand the concepts and principles of offshore wind power but expressed strong curiosity and explored career paths from the perspective of the offshore wind industry. This suggests the potential for energy education from the perspective of career and vocational education, linked with local industries in the future.
However, this study, which analyzed the experiences and perceptions of students around a single regional offshore wind farm, presents several tasks for subsequent research. Future research needs to conduct expanded studies targeting students in various geographical backgrounds and different grade levels, and longitudinal studies should be carried out to determine the long-term impact and sustainability of the educational program on students’ perception changes. Moreover, during the process of investigating the concepts and principles of offshore wind power, most research participants did not acquire any knowledge about the concepts and principles of offshore wind power generation. Considering the inadequate deliberation on educational methods to teach the concepts and principles of offshore wind power at an age-appropriate level, future research needs to develop specific teaching methods that can effectively convey complex concepts and scientific principles of offshore wind power to elementary school students.
Furthermore, considering the limitation that this study applied an education program focusing on a single renewable energy source (offshore wind power), this study proposes developing an integrated renewable energy curriculum that encompasses all renewable energy sources, including solar, hydro, and geothermal power, in addition to offshore wind power. This study also proposes developing an integrated offshore wind power education program that links homes, schools, and local communities, helping students practice energy conservation and renewable energy utilization in their daily lives, going beyond school education. Such research will maximize the effectiveness of local-based environmental education, contribute to fostering competencies for sustainable development in future generations, and ultimately become an important driving force for the continuous development of environmental education through community participation and linkage.