Current Projects

Workshops

The Curriculum

Energy
Education Links

ALTERNATIVE
FUELS PROGRAM

TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM

The Energy Education Program promotes energy conservation and efficiency through education. In the U.S. the average family's energy use generates over 11,200 pounds of air pollutants each year. Personal vehicles average 19.5 miles-per-gallon; a gallon of gasoline consumed produces 19.6 pounds of carbon dioxide; and an average vehicle-mile produces about one pound of carbon dioxide (or a quarter of a kilogram per vehicle-kilometer). Therefore, every kilowatt of electricity and every gallon of gasoline conserved reduce the environmental impact of energy use.

The Energy Education Curriculum Program goal is to increase Texas teachers' awareness of alternative energy in their communities and to improve their understanding of the nature and extent of energy and its resources, energy conservation and efficiency, the economic and environmental effects of energy use, and alternative energy technologies. The program strives to lay the foundation for environmental stewardship in teachers and students though critical-thinking and problem-solving investigations in Texas Education Agency approved workshops.

Program History

Curriculum Description

Workshops

PROGRAM HISTORY

Beginning in 1996, under grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), and the Texas Alternative Fuels Council, the Alternative Fuels Research and Education Division of the Railroad Commission (AFRED) produced a secondary education curriculum supplement entitled Alternative Transportation Fuels for interdisciplinary secondary-school science courses. Working with science curriculum experts from the Texas Education Agency, AFRED staff wrote 22 lessons and activities, correlated them with Texas' educational standards, wrote and produced a Telly-award-winning 13-minute introductory video ("Way Cool Fuels"), produced classroom posters, overhead transparencies and other ancillary materials, and conducted workshops across the state.

Alternative Energy Curriculum Supplement
In 2000 AFRED produced a second edition of the supplement and offered additional workshops. The renewable energy section of the curriculum was expanded, and an additional section on global climate change added. The curriculum supplement was retitled Alternative Energy to reflect its broader scope. The supplement is now offered online at this AFRED web site .

Interactive CD
In 2003, under an additional SECO grant, AFRED converted Alternative Energy into an interactive CD, providing classroom-ready electronic material. The electronic edition is animated, colorized and available on a dual-platform CD-ROM. It includes new lessons, lesson upgrades and hypertext links. The linked resources chosen will help advanced students go further, clarify and extend concepts for remediation, connect schools with local businesses and community organizations, and integrate environmental education more thoroughly into computer-based class activities.

Curriculum Moves to SECO
In 2004 the curriculum moved from AFRED's office to SECO's office where other existing educational programs on renewable energy, energy conservation, and energy efficiency will be streamlined into a new web-based version. The new addition is slated to be online by April 2009.

CURRICULUM DESCRIPTION

Alternative Energy begins by introducing physical and chemical principles of energy and fuels, then proceeds to investigations of the nature and extent of energy resources, the economics and environmental effects of energy use, alternative energy technologies, global climate change, and related health and safety issues. Thematic lessons are included for schools that use a school-wide approach to teaching.

Alternative Energy emphasizes the gathering and evaluation of data on energy, fuels, technology and air quality through hands-on laboratory investigations. The use of open-ended, student-generated models, simulations and concept maps showing the relations between facts, encourages students to form hypotheses, test them, and apply the knowledge thus gained to real-world issues. The activities are designed for group learning, which promotes interaction among students. Rubric grading is included to encourage acceptance of an array of answers to open-ended questions.