Local teacher, Pam Tycer of North Trail Elementary, Farmington, recently returned from a teacher training course that provided practical hands-on tools for furthering the energy education of her students. Tycer attended “Energy Education in the Classroom” sponsored by Great River Energy, Maple Grove, and its 28 member cooperatives. Dakota Electric Association is a member-owned cooperative and purchases wholesale power from Great River Energy.
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Pam Tycer (R) sets up her oven and prepares to bake cookies at the “Energy Education in the Classroom” teacher training course sponsored by Great River Energy. |
Through hands-on activities and class discussions, Tycer learned how to enhance students’ understanding of what energy is, where it comes from, and how it affects their lives.
“The instructors were very knowledgeable and you could tell the various speakers were experts in their field,” Tycer said. “I received great resources like the KEEP teacher and student lesson books and tools for implementing lessons such as the Kill A WattTM EZ electricity usage meter, which will be very useful when implementing energy conservation lessons.”
The teacher training course is part of the popular Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP). Attendees included a broad range of teachers specializing in a variety of fields, including science/mathematics, social studies, language arts and more. KEEP staff, along with faculty from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, provided energy education tools to help teachers easily build energy education into their classroom curriculum.
Participants received, among other items, a graduate credit from the UWSP and a 400-page activity guide full of course outlines and adaptations. Teachers only pay $100 and Great River Energy covers the rest of the cost for the $538 course. Great River Energy provides this learning opportunity annually to teachers in its members’ service areas.
