Deep Learning: a Study on Marine Renewable Energy and Sustainability Education in an Irish Context

Abstract

[EN] In 2020-2022 a select group of Irish educators, marine renewable energy proponents and sustainability stakeholders entered into dialogue with a view to enhancing post-primary educational resources. The paucity of educational resources in this field was highlighted, most notably those in the Irish language. This dialogue led to the development, and piloting of a bilingual (Irish and English) cross-curricular programme of learning - a Transition Year Unit - targeted at students aged 15-17. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning unit with respect to enhancing knowledge in these novel areas. The methodology is a mixed methods case study. Data gathering processes include student questionnaires, stakeholder focus groups, and expert interviews. The main finding is the importance of stakeholder input into curriculum development to ensure the effectiveness of the Transition Year Unit of Learning, and to enhance learner engagement.. Furthermore, the study recommends that one output include a web-based ‘Deep Learning’ educational platform to include downloadable resources and to enhance impact nationwide be widely disseminated. Keywords: Global citizenship, marine renewable energy education, sustainability education, Transition Year Programme.