A day without electricity – a practical assignment that roused a lot of interest among the senior secondary school students

|

In the virtual course Electricity, electronics and environment, developed in the E-Girls – Towards technology – project, the senior secondary school students selected three out of seven practical questions to be answered. 97 (90,7 %) of them answered the question: ‘What would it be like to spend a day without electricity?’. This topic was clearly the most popular one both among girls and boys.—

107 students (54 girls and 53 boys) have completed the course ‘Electricity, electronics and environment’ so far. Six of the participants were girls from the upper classes of comprehensive school and the rest were senior secondary schools students..

Practical assignments form one part of the course. The students get to choose at least three of them. It is, of course, possible to answer even more questions. The students answer the question on their own and send the answers to the teacher as part of the feedback diary.

We received altogether 373 answers. The most popular assignment was the very hands-on question discussed in the introduction ‘What would it be like to spend a day without electricity?’ It inspired almost all the students (90,7%). The most distinctive difference in popularity between girls and boys was with the practical assignment ‘Find out how electric appliances are recycled in your own hometown’. Girls were more interested in this one than the boys were. In fact, girls formed 62% of the respondents. For girls this was the third most popular topic, whereas for boys it was the least popular.

The second most popular topic for boys was ‘Find out where there is a pole-mounted transformer station or pad-mounted substation closest to your home” As for girls, this topic shared the third position with the above mentioned recycling theme. No clear distinction was to be found between the topics chosen by girls and boys.

The most interesting fact in the results was to see how much interest the topic about a day without electricity roused. Electricity is quite essential for us today even if we do not always see it. Maybe that is why the topic was so interesting even to senior secondary school students. Admittedly, the fact that the task was the first exercise of the course might have had an effect on its popularity.

E-Girls – Towards Technology project was concluded at the end of 2006. However, the course is being developed further in the E-girls project of Vaasa region in the Faculty of Technology at the University of Vaasa, which is due to last till the end of 2007. This project is funded by European Social Fund (ESF) and the State Provincial office of Southern Finland.It will be interesting to see which exercises will be the most interesting ones in the future. The lively debate in media about global warming is most probably reflected in the interest of the senior secondary school students.

Current issues concerning electric and magnetic fields

|

The potential health effects of electric and magnetic fields have been studied for a long time. The World Health Organization (WHO) published an extensive book on its website a while ago, which deals with, for instance, research reports on the subject.

Exposure to electric and magnetic fields includes exposure to low frequency and radio frequency fields. Low frequency fields are caused by electric devices, power lines, distribution lines and electric cables in the houses themselves. Radio frequency lines, however, appear in the vicinity of mobile phones and diverse base stations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) follows the health effects caused by exposure to these fields. WHO has published a several books with research results about the potential health effects. The latest book is available in advance on their website. It focuses on low frequency fields and its name isExtremely Low Frequency Fields Environmental Health Criteria Monograph No.238“.

Another very topical issue regarding these fields is the new directive (2004/40/EY), concerning the minimal requirements of health and safety as to protecting employees from exposure to risks caused by physical factors (electric and magnetic fields). The directive defines the maximum values for employees concerning exposure to electromagnetic fields. In Finland the directive will come into force after a transition period.

Different standards are being prepared to support the directive. SESKO´s national committee of standardization SK 106 (Exposure to electromagnetic fields) actively participates in this preparatory work. For further information, see the SESKO website.

There is a rather extensive book on electromagnetic fields even in Finnish.Säteilyturvakeskus (The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority) published a new book in their book series by the name “Sähkömagneettiset kentät” (Electromagnetic fields). The book’s authors have been doing research on the subject for a long time. The topics include mobile phones, power lines, TV and radio stations and many industrial applications e.g., electric welding apparatus. Exposure measuring and biological and physiological effects of the fields are also discussed extensively in this book.

There is quite a lot happening around the topic of exposure to electric and magnetic fields. New research reports flood in and the new directive causes all kinds of preparatory work. This seems to have remained a very timely issue year after year and seems to be that even today.

After over 10 years of web content production I now have a website of my own

|

I have been producing web content for over ten years. Meanwhile, the Internet has taken huge steps forward. It was about time I published my own dynamic website. The site contains things that inspire me. For instance, there is a changing picture and a thought of the day on the index page and much of my previously developed web content can be found in the archive. The regional E-Girls project of Vaasa enabled this website for me.

—

The Internet has gone through a lot of progress in ten years. It was about ten years ago that I was creating web content about electric networks. It was called Sähköverkko-opus (A guide to electric networks). It was certainly possible to add pictures and text at that time as well, but still it was nothing compared to the situation today.

We can now watch TV on the Internet. If we forget to watch the news we can watch the same broadcast on our computer. We can make telephone calls for free and we can check the weather by looking at real time pictures of different places in Finland before we set out for a trip. The progress has been huge.

Even 10 years ago some people had their own homepages. We still get the same kind of homepages: a picture of oneself with contact information and a short description of one’s activities. This is probably the most common type of homepage. However, the Internet of today offers all kinds of opportunities. Updating the content is much easier now, and you can write your blog, etc.

Inspired by this huge progress I decided to make this website. It was exciting to come up with ideas for the content. Also, I wanted to create a place where it is easy to find all the virtual content I have been developing over the years. There is also an archive for old and outdated content. This website was enabled by the regional E-Girls project of Vaasa, funded byEuropean Social Fund (ESF) and the State Provincial Office of Southern Finland.

With the opening of my new website, I’m starting my blog. I have not set any goals for my blog except that I will write whenever interesting themes come across.

Welcome to my website and my blog!

Leena Korpinen