victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

7.1.3 What electric vehicleeducational activities havebeen delivered and what dothey tell us?Electric vehicle education programsare an effective way of promotingacceptance of the technology, and arepopular with those who experiencethem. Attracting interest at the outsetis however a major challenge thatrequires further work.Lyons and Breakwell (1994)found that attitudes towards theenvironment begin to form early inchildhood development. Additionalresearch suggests that higher levelsof commitment to environmentaleducation programs in schools notonly result in greater understandingand behaviour change in the childrenpartaking in the program, but can evenhave flow on effects in raising parentalawareness of these concepts (Davisonet al 2003, Kopina 2011).These insights, along with engagementby school teachers and children in thetrial household participation process,led to a dedicated EV educationprogram for schools beingdeveloped. The EV School program(www.transport.vic.gov.au/evschool)was launched in early 2012.The EV School program draws uponthe Victorian teaching curriculumlearning objectives in the areas ofscience, humanities, civics, and design,creativity and technology. It alignswith the Victorian Essential LearningStandards (VELS) for primary (Gradethree to six) and secondary (Yearsseven to ten) school levels. Withreference to the step-guide shownin Figure 59, the program provideseducators with all they need toachieve their required teachingobjectives through the topic thatis electric vehicles.Although the program was successfullypiloted with a Melbourne high school,promoting its wider adoption hasproven challenging. Brochureshave been prepared for distributionat the many teaching conferencesthat take place at the end and startof each calendar year, followingwhich it is hoped that widespreadawareness of the program intime for formulation of the 2013teaching plans will help uptake.EV School for teachers1 EnlightenRead the teacher’s notes todiscover electric vehicles andfind out more about the EVSchool program.2 Educate• Go to the EV School lessonplan curriculum matrix andselect the matrix for yourteaching domain• From the Matrix, choose alesson plan which best suitsyour teaching needs• Classroom resources arealso available to supportyour lesson.3 Explore• The student project ideasprovide expanded andprintable versions of theproject ideas for primary andsecondary students found inthe ‘Learning Method Matrix’• If you’re looking for anentertaining classroomactivity, check out end of unitfun for some ideas!Figure 60 (Top). Kingswood College 2012 World Environment Day electric vehicle showroom event.Figure 59 (Above). Step-by-step guide for the EV School program introduced by ‘Evie’, the EV School mascot.