In April of 2006, the National Science Foundation awarded a
grant to the Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center
(ATEEC) and partners to provide professional development
training for high school and community college instructors. The
primary goal of this project is to build the capacity of energy
and environmental technicians to meet the challenges of
sustainable energy in the 21st century workplace through two
ten-day intensive annual workshops at national laboratories for
technology instructors at upper level high school and community
college levels in the content areas of energy efficiency and
energy conservation. Content experts will share knowledge about
research advances in energy technology with 50 technology
instructors over the two-year project period, the respective
requirements for technicians, and their implications for a
sustainable energy future. Instructors who participate in the
annual workshops will be connected and supported by an active
online network and workshop follow-up support. Sustainable
energy knowledge will be further extended to additional
technology instructors through events coordinated by workshop
participants in their home communities. ATEEC, serving as lead
partner for this project, will coordinate with three major
project partners on all aspect of the project: the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the University of Northern
Iowa (UNI), and the Partnership for Environmental Technology
Education (PETE).
The educational content of the SEET project will be derived
from the research on emergent technologies and the future of
global energy infrastructure available through NREL and UNI’s
Center for Energy and Environmental Education, and will be based
on the experience of these institutions in providing unique
research experiences to educators at the 10-14 grade level. NREL
and UNI faculty will be directly involved in developing the
course, assuring current and accurate content. They will be
joined in this process by ATEEC, PETE, and a consultant from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The SEET project will allow a broad participation of
underrepresented (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability,
geographic, etc.) groups from across the country through
financial assistance. The project will achieve a broader impact
by giving participating instructors the tools to hold workshops
for other instructors at their local institutions in sustainable
energy concepts, expanding the impact of the program beyond
immediate participants. All instructors participating in the
program will also be invited to participate in an on-line
community coordinated and maintained by ATEEC, so that
instructors can support each other in the implementation of
sustainable energy curriculum components. Findings from this
project will be disseminated through conference workshops and
publications and associated articles in educational and
environmental literature. This project will provide
opportunities for community college and high school instructors
to gain knowledge of current research through direct interaction
with energy researchers, and it will give researchers an
opportunity to learn about the needs of current energy
technicians and their instructors.
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