Teachers Study, Create Solar Cells

This summer, seven high school teachers received a real lesson in science as they performed experiments in a windowless classroom and created their own solar cells, the MSU News Service reports.

The weeklong course was offered at Montana State University as part of MSU's Master of Science in Science Education program. The teachers came from across the country and worked in MSU's dust-free microfabrication laboratories with high-tech furnaces. They talked about how to evaporate aluminum, the benefits of gallium arsenide or the electrical properties of intrinsic silicon.

A solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts sunlight into electricity. These lessons were invaluable to teachers because they were able to make sense of the chemistry and physics behind solar cells. And they plan to apply what they've learned in their own classrooms. In addition to the credit toward their master's degrees, the teachers were able to keep the solar cells they created.

Todd Kaiser, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, taught the course for the first time. This fall, he plans to teach an undergraduate course in solar power and photovoltaic systems.

"Everybody's hungry for energy," Kaiser said, "and I think these classes will help produce engineers who can meet those needs."

For the complete story, visit www.montana.edu.