Berkshire Region
One-Week Institute for Grades 3-8 Educators
Going Green with Your Students: The Science and Engineering Behind Clean Energy
During this summer’s Berkshire Region Institute, we found out more about where energy, climate change, and sustainable solutions fall within the 2016 Science and Technology/Engineering standards. Participants discovered how the problems of sustainable energy can be addressed in the curriculum through the integration of science content with the science and engineering practices. Our teachers worked collaboratively with their peers to develop lessons that they’re excited to share with their students!
Today’s youngest citizens are growing up in a changing world as society shifts away from dirty fossil fuels toward clean, renewable sources of energy. Participants became environmental scientists studying renewable energy, explored the burgeoning clean energy industry in the region and collaborated on ways to bring this learning into our classrooms. We asked and answered: What kind of technologies will we need to transition to 100% clean energy sources by 2050?
We experimented with solar, hydroelectric, wind, and biomass technologies to understand how renewable sources can be used to produce clean energy and reduce our carbon footprint. Through hands-on, minds-on activities we learned how to generate alternative energy and applied our learning to our roles as teachers, learners, and citizen scientists. Together, we collaborated on ways to infuse engineering design into renewable energy projects with our students.
Partners: Flying Cloud Institute (Lead Institution), Trustees of Reservations, Center for EcoTechnology
Flying Cloud Institute
Trustees of Reservations
Center for EcoTechnology