October is Energy Awareness month! We visited NEED’s website (the National Energy Education Development Project) and discovered a WEALTH of resources and curriculum for teachers! We encourage you to explore their entire site for expanded content. Normally we share a small segment of information from a site, but they have so many linked resources, we are sharing more than usual to pique your curiosity and to get you and your students involved with their content.

“During Energy Awareness Month many schools undertake energy efficiency and conservation activities. These classroom activities connect well to student homes as many families approach the winter heating season. Using energy wisely makes sense – both for the environment and for economics. In October, consider teaching about the energy sources we use using NEED activities, and other special items created for Energy Awareness Month, and ways to use that energy more efficiently. NEED and its partners offer lessons and other activities specially selected for energy awareness in the month of October.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Activities

In many states, utilities work with NEED to provide home energy efficiency kits to students and their families. With the Saving Energy at Home and School curriculum, students learn about energy and principles of conservation and efficiency, then take the kits home and install efficiency measures in their homes. The Teacher Guide and Student/Family Guide has many lessons for learning about Energy Efficiency at Home.

Teach and read about energy with NEED’s Energy Booklist. This list provides a multi-level listing of energy related non-fiction and fiction literature for students.

Celebrate Energy Awareness Month by learning more about how you use energy and how to make your energy choices more energy efficient. Consider using these energy efficiency tools to help reduce energy costs at home and at school:  Primary Student Surveys (Building Buddies Stident Guide, pages 16, 49, and 50) and Student school and home energy surveys (Monitoring and Mentoring Student Guide, pages 20 and 23).

The Energy Expo was created to provide students with an expanded opportunity to learn about energy efficiency technologies while improving research and presentation skills. Similar to Transportation Fuels Expo, these pieces of the NEED portfolio lead students through research on efficiency technologies.

Sign the Energy Conservation Contract to pledge to be more efficient about energy use at home and on the road!

Evaluate your school building and the science behind keeping it healthy, comfortable and energy efficient with NEED’s new Building Science curriculum for intermediate students.

Chemistry and Energy Efficiency is an excellent way to celebrate Energy Awareness Month in your chemistry or secondary science classroom. This curriculum explores chemistry in daily life, how energy is used in the chemistry industry, and how the chemistry industry works to make our lives more efficient through the development of new products.

Build an energy house with your students to explore more about insulation, conservation and diminishing returns.

Have some energized fun in the classroom. Energy Games and IcebreakersEnergy Stories and More,Energy JeopardyEnergy CarnivalsEnergy on Stage, and Energy Rock Performances allow students to explore energy, efficiency while being active and creative.

Investigate the use of appliances and machines through a data-driven investigative unit. Plug Loads allows students to look closely at how pluggable devices are used at home and school, and how their use impacts an energy bill.

The National Ocean Industries Association Activity Book, compiled in partnership with NEED, helps students understand many aspects of energy development and production on the nation’s outer continental shelf. The Activity Books are available in class-sets. To request a class-set or multiple class-sets, please contact NEED at info@need.org.

Document your Energy Awareness Month activities for your 2013 Youth Awards Project and submit in April!

More great places to look for energy information this month:

U.S. Department of Energy
Energy Information Administration Kid’s Page
Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program

Other Great Classroom and Outreach Activities:

Thanks to Donna Quillen of Prospect Elementary School in Monroe, North Carolina for developing Greek Mythology and the Forms of Energy. It is a great way to bring energy into the language arts classroom.

U.S. Energy Geography
A series of resource maps for students to develop an understanding of energy production and use.”

NEED, we are blown away by your resources – thank you for your effort for compiling these! We are grateful to be able to pass these along to our readers!

At GISetc.com we curate and bring you the best geography and science resources from the web. We hope our sharing will keep you up to date on the latest science and geospatial news. Click here for more information on National Energy Month.

excerpts from the National Education Energy Development Project website http://need.org/energyawarenessmonth