| Energy for Educators |
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The Idaho National Laboratory has created several lesson plans and activities to help bring energy into the classroom. This resource has a wide variety of information for teachers that also allows for teachers to collaborate with one another. With an ever increasing demand for energy related careers starting this education at younger ages can prove to be vital to future careers. URL - http://www.energyforeducators.org |
| Energy Kids |
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Energy Kids from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration provides teacher guides and energy
lessons that use this website as a resource. The guide provides Language
Arts, Math, Performing Arts, Science and Social Studies extension activities
by age levels: Primary (P), Elementary (E), Intermediate (I), and Secondary
(S). URL - http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/index/cfm |
| Just 4 Kids & Teachers |
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General Electric, one of the worlds largest producers of large scale wind turbines, has put together a "Celebrate the Wind!" curriculum. It covers four very important questions that each deal with different aspects of wind energy: What is the Wind, What are the Effects of the Wind, Wind is Energy in Motion, and Why Wind Power. URL - http://www.gepower.com/businesses/ge_wind_energy/en/kids_teachers/index.htm |
| KidWind |
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Michael Arquin
began the Kidwind Project when he was a 6th grade science teacher in
California. Michael developed the
KidWind idea through a fellowship at the Wright Center for Science Education
during the 2003-2004 academic year. The original KidWind website was launched
in January 2004 with free lessons plans and other wind energy science ideas
for the classroom. They strongly believe in building a diverse community of
teachers to improve science education through inquiry based learning. KidWind
creates affordable "classroom ready" materials to make these
experiences interesting and engaging for students. All of their print
materials are freely downloadable from their website. KidWind also believes
that their clear, comprehensive, and precise documentation and customer
support differentiate them from other vendors. URL - http://learn.kidwind.org/homeroom |
| NEED (National Energy Education Development) |
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The Need Project
began in 1980 as a one-day celebration of energy education. A Presidential Proclamation from President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the need
for comprehensive energy education in our nation’s schools, a reduction of our
dependence on fossil fuels, and increasing use of renewable energy technologies and
energy efficiency. Today’s students must learn to apply energy technologies to use energy more
efficiently, to lessen or eliminate environmental impacts of energy use, and to find new
ways to use our energy sources more wisely and more economically. NEED students are the
energy workforce of the future. From a collection of three or four activities in
1980 when Jerry Katz founded NEED as a one-day celebration of energy, NEED curriculum has grown to include over 120
teacher and student guides at all levels and over 40 hands-on kits. URL - http://www.need.org
In addition to the NEED project the NEED Wind For Schools curriculum can be found in this PDF. |
| The Power of the Wind |
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The activities in
The Power of the Wind involve young people in the engineering design process
as they learn about the wind and its uses. Youth work with members of a team
to design, create, build, and test a wind-powered device. The device must
solve a problem and requires the designers to balance options and
constraints. URL - http://www.4-h.org/resource-library/curriculum/4-h-the-power-of-the-wind/ |
| WeatherBug |
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Get out of the text
books and go online with an interactive tool delivering lessons to teach
math, science, geography; all pulling in live data from the world's largest
weather network - the WeatherBug® Schools Network. Students of all ages have
an interest in weather, it affects their day as well - recess, baseball
games, etc. When weather is integrated into interactive lesson plans, tests
scores have proven students are more apt to learn and grasp even the most
difficult topics. URL - http://weather.weatherbug.com/weather-education/default.asp |
| Wind Energy Dictionary |
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DICTIONARY |
Looking for the definition of some commonly used terms in wind energy? Here is your one stop shop for all the definitions that you will need.
Wind Energy Terms |
| Wind Power Animation |
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The US DOE Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy department has put together an animation that discusses the advantages of wind power, describes how a wind turbine works, and shows the estimated available wind resource in the United States. It also discusses the difference than large and small scale applications. URL - http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/electricity/index.cfm/mytopic=10501 |
| Wind with Miller |
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Wind with Miller
was developed for students at the age of 12-14 years and up as the primary
target group. However, use is not restricted to schools. The web site is an
easy-to-read introduction to wind power. There are many possibilities to
plumb the depths with activities as well as a supplementary 'grown-up' web
site consisting of about 200 pages dealing with wind power at an upper
secondary school level (US: high school). URL - http://guidedtour.windpower.org/en/knowledge/wind_with_miller.html |
| WindWise |
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WindWise inspires
students to learn about today’s real-world energy issues by engaging them in
innovative, hands-on activities related to wind energy. The curriculum
provides standards-based lessons in wind energy for 6th-12th grade students
in core subjects like physics, technology, earth and life science, math, and
much more. These curriculums can be downloaded for free by teachers for use
in the classroom. URL - http://learn.kidwind.org/windwise |
Why do we provide this content
From 1982, A Conceptual Framework for Energy Education, K-12, commissioned by the Department of Energy. "energy-literate citizen” found on page 7:
- Understands that we can’t make energy.
- Finds more efficient ways to use energy at home, at school, and on the job, for example through the use of waste heat.
- Has some historical perspective on energy use and extraction; for
example, has an informed notion of where we stand on the fossil fuel
depletion curve.
- Compares life-cycle costs in deciding on major purchases.
- Invests to save energy, for example by purchasing home insulation when it is cost-effective.
- Knows how much energy is being used in his/her household and where it goes.
- Is aware of the major sources of the energy used in his or her
immediate job and in the economy as a whole, including their relative
size.
- Understands that all energy use and production has a cost, including an environmental cost.
- Traces energy flows and thinks in terms of energy systems, not just individual components.
- Tries to match energy-quality to energy use.
- Is aware of his/her home’s orientation to sun and wind, and takes whatever advantage of it is possible.
- Supports long-term national efforts to improve energy efficiency.
- Understands a variety of ways of reducing energy use in personal transport.
- Understands how active and passive solar heating work.
- Understands how refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps work, and uses them efficiently.
- Keeps learning about energy.
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