Energy for Education Moijue Kaikai, Professor Erin Baker, University of Massachusetts Amherst Abstract Many issues surround the global energy crisis. One crucial issue that is often overlooked is the lack awareness about problems related to energy and the sustainable technologies that may be used to solve them. In this project, we developed a curriculum aimed at educating urban high school students on sustainable energy technologies, global energy issues, and empowering them to spread awareness across their communities. The curriculum includes a series of lesson plans introducing these sustainable technologies, documentaries explaining the impacts of peak oil and climate change, and a hands-on wind energy project allowing the students to grasp an understanding of work, energy, and power. The students will also gather all their information they acquired though the curriculum and present it to an audience. Educational Objectives Engage the younger generation in global energy issues to build awareness of and gain interest in taking on these challenges Generate student’s interest and motivation in attending college, and specifically in STEM fields Help students develop skills in critical thinking and problem solving, communication through oral presentations, and basic skills in math and physics Energy Awareness Documentaries: An Inconvenient Truth and Crude Impact Wind Turbine Project: To calculate work done and power based off a load the turbine can carry and applied wind velocity Implementation The Energy for Education curriculum is to be first implemented at the 2013 Upward Bound Summer Program which host students from the High School of Commerce in Springfield, MA. Lessons on alternatives forms of energy technology and the process in which each of them generate electricity This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under NSF award number Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation. Research Based Conclusions Curriculum Implementing/ Project Based Learning: these must draw on student’s critical thinking ability to be effective. They must also involve forms of assessment to note where the overall class environment is with their understanding and interest within the subject, and changes based on that assessment where necessary Mentoring Students of Color: classroom environment and educational system barriers critically affect a urban student’s learning ability. Personal connections help them develop a deeper understanding of self-awareness and the potential they possess STEM Education: STEM classroom practice s and projects should be taught as a more practical and inter-disciplinary practice rather than math and science textbook questions (top- down approach) Wind Turbine Lesson Plan Duration min Age Level: High School Learning Objectives: Understand what wind power is, Be able to describe parts of a wind turbine used to generate electricity, Apply skills in unit conversion and general physics, Develop skills in analyzing data while testing, Develop teamwork skills, Take down accurate data to calculate power Key Terms: Energy, Power, Renewable Energy, Kinetic Energy, Load, Work, Turbine, Rotor, Nacelle, Hub, Shaft Activity: 1. Students will build a turbine based on instructions in handout 2. Students will calculate various aspects of their turbines including: The maximum work it can do Collect data by testing their turbines Power based off maximum work