VEEP News archives
Solar Challenge Workshop
VEEP's Solar Challenge is a popular engineering activity that engages students in designing and building their own solar concentrator. Our one-day workshop will help teachers understand how the Challenge works and familiarize them with the concepts, materials, methods, and construction involved in the project.
WHAT: Solar Challenge Workshop
WHEN: Thursday, June 21 from 9am - 4pm
WHERE: Crossett Brook Middle School
in Duxbury, VT (Exit 10 off I-89 south of Waterbury on Route 100)
WHO: VEEP's Energy Engineer, Andy Shapiro, will teach this workshop. Perfect for teachers of students in grades 6-12
FEE: $25
REGISTER: Complete the SurveyMonkey registration form by June 12, 2012
TO BRING: Lunch
Energy Literacy Guide
Click on the image to download a high res pdf.
Produced by the Department of Energy, Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education identifies seven Essential Principles and a set of Fundamental Concepts to support each principle. The guide does not seek to identify all areas of energy understanding, but rather to focus on those that are essential for all citizens. Intended uses include: formal and informal energy education, standards development, curriculum design, assessment development, and educator trainings.
Like VEEP on Facebook
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Whole School Energy Challenge
Five Vermont schools are participating in the Whole School Energy Challenge, a pilot program that engages schools in a friendly competition to make efficiency improvements that will reduce energy use at school. Read more...
Energy Education in Starksboro
This summer, VEEP worked with Dan Noel, principal of Robinson Elementary School in Starksboro, to develop a plan to educate students about the 19 solar trackers that power the school. The plan included a half-day Energy Fair in October with 5 hands-on stations focused on efficiency, solar power and wind power. VEEP also developed Solar Statistics, a 6th grade math worksheet that uses online data from the school's solar trackers to calculate range, mean, and mode. According to one student "This was the best math class ever!"
In December, VEEP will return to Robinson and present Electricity and the Environoment to 3rd and 4th grade classes. Robinson's energy education initiative was funded in part by a grant from VECAN written by Caleb Elder, Town Energy Coordinator in Starksboro. Read more about this story in the BFP article, "A Vermont sort of independence."
ACE Assemblies
Vermont Energy Education Program
(VEEP) is teaming up with the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) to bring their award-winning, all-school assembly program to eight Vermont high schools. The one-hour
multimedia presentation is designed to inspire individual actions and
school-wide efforts that will reduce energy use, shrink the school’s carbon
footprint, and save the school money. The schedule of schools, dates and times is listed in the complete press release.
2011 Summer Institutes
VEEP offered a Summer Institute in 2011 to train teachers to use Wind Works, a comprehensive wind energy curriculum developed by VEEP with funding from the Blittersdorf Foundation. The course included hands-on activities using mini-wind turbines, fans and voltmeters; an introduction to the Vermont Renewable Energy Atlas; a tour of NRG; and guest speakers Dorothy Schnure of Green Mountain Power and David Blittersdorf of All Earth Renewables. Click here to see a course outline.
2010 Annual Snapshot
Read VEEP's 2010 Annual Snapshot, our most recent newsletter and annual report. The Snapshot includes a full-color poster about Vermont's Energy Future. Please contact us if you would like VEEP to send you a copy of the poster. Special thanks to the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund for funding the poster and developing the Renewable Energy Atlas
New VEEP Managing Director
Our new managing director, Wendy McArdle, has a degree in environmental science and a wealth of experience working in schools and nonprofits to promote the conservation ethic.
VEEP gives testimony in front of the Joint Energy Committee
On January 29th VEEPers Nick Richardson, Fran Barhydt, and Andy Shapiro testified about the need for energy literacy training in all schools in Vermont, and took the opportunity to teach the basics to the committee. Chairman Tony Klein requested the workshop and thanked VEEP for doing so much “with so little” for Vermont students.
VEEP in the Burlington Free Press!
Click here to read the article!
August 17: Senator Bernie Sanders Visits VEEP Workshop
On August 17, US Senator Bernie Sanders paid a surprise visit to the VEEP PVs Clean and Green Summer Institute, being held at Rice Memorial High School, in Burlington. Senator Sanders met with the participating teachers for nearly an hour, sharing his views on the need for energy sustainability, and answering questions from teachers about his work at the federal level to help us move towards more sustainable energy policies. The Senator praised the participants for their work in bringing renewable energy and efficiency into the classroom, and pledged to keep working to help create more opportunities for school based renewable energy projects.
VEEP PV's Clean and Green Summer Institute
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On July 12th VEEP kicked off its 2010 Summer Institutes with PVs Clean and Green at the U-32 School in Montpelier. During the three-day training, teachers learned about the basics of energy production, and got to experiment with hands-on activities to bring PVs into the classroom. Participating teachers also received materials kits at a reduced cost, thanks to support from the Environmental Protection Agency. The 12 teacher participants were from all over Vermont, and teach a wide range of grades and subjects, from 2nd grade to college level classes, and from earth science to art classes. Regardless of their location and educational focus the teachers came together with the common goal of gaining knowledge in order to spread information about photovoltaics.
In the workshops, Fran and Andy use a “guided self discovery” teaching approach. This allows the teachers to make discoveries at their own pace and culminates in understanding rather than memorization. Brian Tonks, a high school physics teacher from the Sharon Academy reflected on the approach, “I was reminded about how important taking it slow is…allowed the time to reflect on the data in compassion to inferences”.
Next step- the classroom, as teachers bring the PVs Clean and Green curriculum this fall, with support from VEEP staff. VEEP will hold two more Summer Institutes this summer, an additional PVs Clean and Green in Burlington August 16-18, and a Wind Works training at U-32 on July 21-23.
VEEP Receives EPA Grant!
On June 28th VEEP received notice of a grant award from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 1 office for $38,580 to support our “Renewables Now! Summer Institutes.” EPA Region 1 received 99 applications this year, requesting over $3 million in funding, and chose six projects totaling $190,000.
This award will enable VEEP to:
- train over 30 teachers this summer in our Wind Works and PVs Clean and Green curricula, through three-day institutes in Montpelier and Burlington;
- provide materials kits at a very low cost that will support implementation of the curricula in the schools; and
- offer financial aid to participating teachers who are unable to access funds from their districts.
Many Renewables Now! participants were also recent recipients of federal Solar on Schools grants. With new renewable energy technology installed on their buildings, and new tools for teaching about renewables in the classroom, this should be a bold summer for energy education in Vermont.
VEEP pilots new Wind program at Cabot School
On Wednesday March 24 Fran Barhydt and Andy Shapiro will pilot a new classroom presentation with Charlie Wanzer’s high school physics students at Cabot School. VEEP has been working with Charlie for over 10 years, helping him bring energy concepts into his class.
“VEEP is a great partner,” says Wanzer, “both in helping to enrich the classroom and in supporting me to develop additional projects and initiatives.”
Wind Works is a new program, developed by VEEP with the support of the Jan & David Blittersdorf Foundation. VEEP hopes to have Wind Works available to schools across Vermont starting in the Fall of 2010.
