Grade 9 to Grade 12

Students and Teachers:  Energy Awareness Month encouraged Alaskans to be more energy aware with three action items.

If you're a teacher wondering how to fit these lessons into your classroom all year round, here are some ideas for you complete with correlations to national standards!

Action item #1, Get an Audit: Energy Walkabout and the Energy Challenge

Action item #2, Change your Light Bulbs: Energy Efficiency Ambassadors

Action item #3, Seal Tight and Ventilate Right: The BEAM Project

By the time kids start high school they probably have a better sense of money than energy – what it takes to get it and how easy it is to spend.  Allowances might have evolved into part time jobs.  Dollars in pockets has become something the kids understand as a finite resource.  Showing them how to save some of those dollars through simple energy saving measures is a skill they’ll take with them into adulthood and independence.  Some of the online resources available make doing this fun for both teacher and student.

Energized Learning

Web: http://energizedlearning.lbl.gov/EnergizedLearning.html

Materials Offered: Lesson plan for middle and high school students about the central role energy has in our lives and tying into science, math, and social science curriculum.

Availability: Free; lessons as web pages on site.

Overview: The site includes lessons and activities that develop specific skills and knowledge students are expected to learn in science, mathematics, economics and social sciences and politics.  An underlying philosophy is that energy supply, conversion, and use are central to the quality of life for all people.  The site has two portals, one for students and one for teachers. 

Applicability to Alaska: Good.  Lesson plan compares cold climate energy use in Anchorage to warm climate energy use in Dallas.

Conclusion: Simple site with limited lessons but what’s there has been very well done. 

From the U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Education

Web: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/education/  

Materials Offered: 16 lesson plans and activities are offered for students grades K-12 focusing on understanding the basics of energy efficiency and finding areas in need of improvement both at school and at home.  Many activities offer hands-on projects to reduce energy use.  The database includes resources from the EPA, Energy Star, and other sources. 

Availability: Free, downloadable PDF’s

Overview: Lessons range from activities for younger students, such as designing draft detectors to use at home, to more complex algebra worksheets for middle school students to school energy audits for high school students. Each lesson provides an outline of the topics to be covered and describes the time and material needs as well as the national education standards it meets.  The lesson plans are, however, disjointed from a larger curriculum and the educator must work to fit each lesson into his or her own curriculum.  (Materials are also offered on energy basics and renewable energy on this site.)

Applicability to Alaska: good, the curriculum is made for national use, some tweaking could be done to make it more specific to Alaska’s unique energy needs.

Conclusion: Very good lesson plans.  Some lessons require background knowledge on energy and would fit in well to a larger energy unit.  

From the National Energy Education Development (NEED)

Web: http://www.need.org/index.php

Materials Offered: Extensive energy education resources and planning materials. Need supplies materials on all energy topics, including energy efficiency.  Lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and planning modules to organize the utilization of these tools.   Among other things, make sure to check out the NEED teacher guide to saving energy: http://www.need.org/needpdf/Saving%20Energy%20Teacher%20Guide.pdf. 

Availability: Free, All materials are available online and can also be ordered through the mail.  Hands on Kits are also sold by NEED.

Overview: This resource offers materials needed to implement an entire energy curriculum.  A “blueprint for success” is provided, including a curriculum matrix to help educators plan an effective energy unit using the provided lesson plans.  Activities, lesson plans, and worksheets are offered and can be sorted by topic, age range, or title.  Each document includes background for educators, time, preparation, and materials needed and a procedure for the lesson.  Most include a curriculum correlation guide and a student evaluation to be completed at the end of the lesson. 

Applicability to Alaska: good, the curriculum is made for national use, some tweaking could be done to make it more specific to Alaska’s unique energy needs.

Conclusion: Very good, extensive resource for educators.  The resource can be used to build an entire energy unit and also provides singular lesson plans and activities that educators could fit in to existing units.  

From Schools for Energy Efficiency (SEE)

Web:  http://www.class5energy.com/markets/schools-see/

Materials Offered: The SEE program provides a systemized plan for school districts to reduce their energy use by changing behavior throughout the district. The program includes awareness materials, training, and utility tracking. 

Availability: Program available for purchase by district.

Overview: The program is customized for each school district and seeks to reduce annual energy use by at least 10% and achieve an ENERGY STAR award while engaging students and staff in the process. 

Applicability to Alaska: The company customizes the plan for each district, but activities and awareness programs are presumably generalized for national use. 

Conclusion: A costly option, but one that could end up saving a school district money by cutting energy costs.  This program is unique as it engages not only students, but also school administrators, educators, facilities managers, and parents in the process. 

From the Energy Information Administration

Web: http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=6

Materials Offered: Online database of lesson plans from other sources (mostly NEED), which are very well organized by age level and topic. This includes a teachers’ guide which organizes the site’s resources. An online activity center for students featuring interactive lessons, games, and activities is also available on this website.

Availability: Free, downloadable PDF’s, games and activities on the website.

Overview: Although this website does not offer original lesson plans, it organizes those of NEED in a slightly more user friendly manner than the NEED website.  This would be suitable for educators who are looking for a few specific lesson plans on energy efficiency rather than those who are attempting to implement a comprehensive energy unit.  The kid’s activity site includes a page on using and saving energy.  The online games and activities are lacking and probably would not hold a student’s attention for too long.  They also focus more on energy science and sources rather than on efficiency.

Applicability to Alaska: Similar to NEED: lessons are designed for national use and could be tweaked to be more state-specific. 

Conclusion: An easy, more user-friendly way to access singular NEED lesson plans.

From the Alliance to Save Energy: Green Schools

Web: http://ase.org/programs/green-schools-program (click on the “Resources” tab for a regularly updated list of lesson plans and other resources related to the green schools program.)

Materials Offered: Lesson plans developed by Green School participants and tips/ outside resources for implementing a school-wide energy efficiency program are offered. 

Availability: Free PDF’s and links available on the website. The Green Schools program is usually paid for by grants or an energy savings contract. 

Overview: The main program offered by Green Schools is a district-wide initiative to save money on utilities while using real-world situations to teach energy and energy efficiency.  This program is not yet available in Alaska but the website provides some lesson plans designed by Green School teachers.  Lessons are available for elementary, middle, and high school levels but are limited and do not correlate with a larger unit plan. 

Applicability to Alaska: Most lessons are very general and will be useful.

Conclusion: The Green Schools program provides limited resources, but offers good tips for implementing a school-wide energy efficiency program. 

From Watt Watchers of Texas: Knowledge is Power

Web: http://wattwatchers.org/pages/kisp.htm

Materials Offered: K-12 “Knowledge is Power” lesson plans are available.  Complete unit plans are currently under development and should be available for national purchase soon.

Availability: Free PDF downloads

Overview: Watt Watchers of Teas provides 17 lesson plans covering different topics relating to energy efficiency such as lighting, heating and cooling, and vampire power.  Each lesson plan provides time and material needs, a vocabulary list, and correlations with Texas education standards.  Many of the lesson plans introduce a concept and then offer lesson extensions for older students. 

Applicability to Alaska: Some updates would be needed as lessons are currently written exclusively for Texan schools (For example: activities centralizing on air conditioning at home).

Conclusion: Worksheets will be very useful but this resource is still in the works and should be watched for a more extensive offering in the future

From Earth Care Canada

Web: www.earthcarecanada.com/earthcare_program/EarthCARE_lessons.asp

 Materials Offered: Quizzes, hand-outs, activities, and lessons on energy efficiency, water conservation, and waste reduction.  Broken down by grade level, K-11.

Availability: Free downloadable PDF’s, some files also available in MS word and HTML formats.

Overview: Lesson plans are lacking: they simply introduce a topic and explain briefly how to introduce it to students.  Activities and handouts could be helpful supplements, but are not entirely well-designed or comprehensive.  It seems that the activities and hand outs are not designed to correlate with lesson plans. The resources, do, however provide many fun and original ideas that could be a helpful jumping off point. 

Applicability to Alaska: good, lessons and supplements are general and could easily be adapted to Alaskan schools. 

Conclusion: Although the lesson plans, hand-outs, activities, and quizzes are not extensive, they contain many original ideas that could provide a good starting point for educators.

Additional Resources

Energy Audit Lab, appropriate for an AP Environmental Science class: http://www.classroomearth.org/node/172