Students, Educators Get an Up-Close Look at Technology and More at OTC!

Author: Anthony Darby; Published: May 13, 2013; Category: Classroom materials, Classroom presentations, Energy Education; Tags: Classroom Instruction, energy education, STEM, students, Teachers; Comments: Comments Off

The 2013 Offshore Technology Conference hosted 11 Houston-area high school groups as part of the Energy Education Institute on 9 May! About 250 students and teachers escaped from the classroom for the day to explore offshore technology through activities facilitated by our friends at the NEED Project. Groups modeled the challenges of  “Getting the Oil out” at different depths through artificial lift. Using straws and sponges, students were able to explain why perforated well casings can produce more petroleum or natural gas in horizontal drilling than ones without holes. These activities and more are available in the NEED Project’s “Exploring Oil and Gas” curriculum guide. (http://need.org/needpdf/ExploringOilandGas.pdf)

 

Industry tour guides took the students and teachers to the expansive OTC exhibit halls to discover the future of offshore technology. Many of the exhibitors shared presentations of their products by letting students climb in submersible vehicles, view 3D models of rigs, and interact with state-of-the-art simulations of the offshore drilling process. OTC recognizes the importance of engaging students in the opportunities of offshore energy careers, because they are the future of the industry!

Thanks to generous sponsorships of BP and ExxonMobil, both the student and teachers workshops were complimentary. If you missed out this year, check back for applications to the OTC 2014 Energy Education Institute!

Interested in attending a like workshop? Send us a note to energyed@spe.org

Join the conversation on Facebook— www.Facebook.com/Energy4me. You can also connect with us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Energy4me!

Six Reasons to Invest in Better STEM Education

Author: Anthony Darby; Published: Apr 18, 2013; Category: Classroom materials, Energy Education; Tags: energy education, STEM, students, Teachers; Comments: Comments Off

 

Check out this infographic we found courtesy of EDTECH! It demonstrates the importance of K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics instruction. Furthermore, the infographic illustrates how a firm math and technology-based education can improve students’ long-term job and career prospects.

Looking to make the case for better STEM investment in your school or district? Make the case visually with the following six reasons why every school should make STEM education a priority.

Join the conversation on Facebook— www.Facebook.com/Energy4me. You can also connect with us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Energy4me!

2013 is All About Energy Education!

Author: Anthony Darby; Published: Jan 3, 2013; Category: Classroom materials, Energy Education, Technology; Tags: energy education, STEM, students, Teachers; Comments: Comments Off

 

2013 is under way and from Energy4me’s perspective, we plan on it being one where we continue to bring energy education to the classroom by educating teachers and students! That fact will be demonstrated at the annual Offshore Technology Conference – which takes place 6-9 May 2013 at Reliant Park, Houston, Texas, USA. www.OTCnet.org

For Houston-area educators, as part of the Energy Education Institute, learn ways to energize your classroom at the teacher workshop (grades 4-12) or bring your students (ages 15 or older) to OTC for an exciting STEM event that will showcase, firsthand, the exciting opportunities the oil and gas industry can offer.

Live in the Houston-area? Want to be a part of this exciting opportunity? Send us an email to energyeducation@otcnet.org to register. There is no cost for the teacher workshop or HS STEM event.

 

Join the conversation on Facebook— www.Facebook.com/Energy4me. You can also connect with us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Energy4me!

How Kids Teaching Kids Works in My Classroom

Author: Anthony Darby; Published: Oct 18, 2012; Category: Classroom materials, Energy Education; Tags: Children, Classroom Instruction, Education, Energy, energy education, Energy4me, Environment, oil, Petroleum, science, SPE, STEM, students, Teachers; Comments: Comments Off

 

Guest blog by Jeannine Huffman, CTE Energy & Design Instructor, San Joaquin County Office of Education – Stockton, CA. Courtesy of The NEED Project.

How did Jeannine Huffman convince her students to not only want to learn about energy content, but remember it as well? Her strategy was kids teaching kids… read more in this fascinating blog post!

At the end of the school year my high school students know energy transformations, energy sources, and electricity generation by heart. In fact, when Pacific Gas and Electric sent a team to help students conduct an energy audit, the professionals said that our students were the only students they had ever worked with who could name every form and source of energy, each transformation, and how electricity was generated.

How did I accomplish this? I first had to convince my students at the beginning of each year to want to learn and remember the energy content.  I did this by introducing them to the Learning Pyramid. I have known about the Learning Pyramid, but have not had an opportunity to fully put its method into action until I began using NEED curriculum. I have grown more and more convinced that the Pyramid is representative of the belief that when Kids Teach Kids they retain and apply the content more effectively.

How does it work in my classroom?  I post the Learning Pyramid Chart and refer to it during class, reminding the students that our goal is to reach the top. At the bottom of the chart is Lecture 5%, so I say to my students, “If I stand up here and lecture, you will only remember 5%. In fact, you probably wonder how you are ever going to remember everything.” Student buy-in is critical and right away they see on the chart that they will only remember 10% if they read along with my lecture. As students move up the chart, adding visuals to reading and lecture, the retention increases to 20%. This affords the students a chance to tap into their meta-cognitive skills which means they are thinking about their own learning and taking personal responsibility to examine how they learn.

Demonstrations help students remember a concept but it has been suggested that they will only remember 30%.   How do I know this? When asked to explain energy transformations, or energy flow from the sun, most cannot explain the concept completely. Allowing students to discuss in groups and as a class may increase their retained knowledge up to 50%.  As a teacher you will reap rewards, and they will too, by allowing them to discuss and collaborate.  It is OK for a classroom to be noisy.  Science and technology aren’t silent.   After demonstrations and discussion about half the class can explain the energy flow well.

When students practice by doing, the retention can increase to 75%.  Through repetition, most students are able to easily explain the energy transformation. Let your students experiment, explore and work in teams. It is more work for you to set up multiple labs, but the return on the investment of teacher time is significant.  NEED’s hands-on kits (wind, solar, Science of Energy and more) come with equipment for demonstrations and experiments like the Hand Generated Flashlight that students use to see how motion energy transforms to electrical energy.  Hands-on learning always requires more investment of time in the classroom, but it pays off in student performance and classroom success.

The biggest return on the investment is when students are afforded the opportunity to teach others. This is not a surprise to NEED teachers. For example, once you became a teacher, your first lecture on electrons made much more sense and led to more personal understanding.  The same holds true for your students. Unless they can explain each step accurately, they do not really understand the concept. What a perfect way to assess your students on the spot! The work that goes into preparing to teach a class prepares students for energy presentations and other academic presentations they will give throughout the year. It is an effective, and fun, way to bring important concepts about energy out of the classroom and into the community.  Teach each other, teach others.

What is the gain by taking extra classroom time for every student to teach each other? A whopping 90%.  I believe it! There is a great deal of satisfaction in observing them as they teach and as I assess them informally.  Once students are trained in this method, they know they do not leave the classroom until they have taught others. By the time the student teams have practiced and presented lessons, they have heard the concepts better than they ever expected.  Moreover, students seem to compete with one another to see who can give the best presentation! The classroom becomes a truly cooperative learning space and students all pay better attention, are more engaged and accountability and responsibility for learning skyrockets.  One freshman, who was struggling to grasp a concept after several attempts to explain, finally had an AH HA! moment and said, “I will never forget this!” This is what a teacher lives for!

To embed this knowledge, I reinforce regularly in a playful way. Out of the blue I will say, “I just heard a noise outside who can trace that energy flow from the sun?” Hands shoot up as students have become very aware of energy around them.

This about this:  I was talking with my niece about teaching electrolytes in my chemistry class. My niece said, “I memorized what the definition of an electrolyte was and passed my chemistry class last year, but I can’t even tell you what it is now.” This statement disturbed me. How many of us are good at memorizing facts but still don’t know how to apply that knowledge? Teach them to teach and they will never forget!

I love the NEED curriculum.  But it is only recently that I have come to realize the importance of the motto, “Kids Teaching Kids.” It was not until I had firsthand experience with the Learning Pyramid that see and know how well it works.

Learn more about the NEED project at www.NEED.org

Join the conversation on Facebook— www.Facebook.com/Energy4me. You can also connect with us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Energy4me! 

“Energize Your Classroom” and High School STEM Events Educate at ATCE in San Antonio

Author: Anthony Darby; Published: Oct 12, 2012; Category: Classroom materials, Energy Education; Tags: energy education, STEM, students, Teachers; Comments: Comments Off

BY: Rene Flores, energyed@spe.org

Close to 100 teachers and more than 180 high-school students received an energy boost in the form of materials, books, experiments and lessons by taking part in an energy education workshop hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ (SPE) outreach program, Energy4me and its partner, The National Energy Education Development Project (NEED).  The workshops took place as part of the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas on 10 October 2012.

ATCE is recognized globally as a leading conference in the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry.  The conference provides professionals an opportunity to gather and learn the latest advancements in oil and gas exploration and production.  However, it was elementary and secondary teachers and high school students who could be found asking questions of industry professionals during an exhibit tour. 

 The “Energize Your Classroom” Teacher Workshop invited San Antonio-area classroom teachers (grades 4-12) to learn information and scientific concepts surrounding energy and its importance while discovering the world of oil and natural gas exploration and production. Amber Pena, a curriculum specialist with the San Antonio Independent School District said, “This has been a wonderful opportunity for us, first to learn ourselves about the industry and energy, we need energy, we can’t survive without it.  We need creative minds going into this field so this has been tremendous for us.”

 Just down the hall from the teacher workshop, the Energy4me High School Student STEM Event was taking place where students had a similar reaction.

“I’m very excited to meet people in the petroleum engineering industry, to talk with them and learn more about what they do, how they got there and their college experiences,” said student, Narda Mende.

These one-day workshops focused on increasing the knowledge of participants about the oil and gas industry and career opportunities in the petroleum engineering profession. Educators and students who took part in this professional development workshop were guided through hands-on classroom activities, heard from top industry professionals on oil and gas exploration and production, and participated in a technology tour of the conference exhibit booths.

Helge Haldorsen, General Manager of Statoil USA, provided the keynote address and described the significance of the workshops and of teachers, “They have to create that spark in their students so they want to go into STEM and come back and be the new Steve Jobs!  So, they (teachers) are very important.” 

Energy4me will hold its next “Energize Your Classroom” workshop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on 1 November at part of the Canadian Unconventional Resources Conference (CURC). 

Learn more about the NEED project at www.NEED.org

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