The NEED Project at 30 Years
In 1980, the NEED Project began as a one-day celebration of energy education. A Joint Congressional Resolution established National Energy Education Day. A Presidential Proclamation from President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the need for comprehensive energy education in our nation’s schools, a reduction of our dependence on fossil fuels, and increasing use of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency. As NEED celebrates its 30^th Anniversary, it continues to make an impact on energy knowledge of students, teachers, and the public.  NEED is successful.  The vision and goals established by the Board of Directors ask that the NEED staff, teachers, students, partners and sponsors work to provide energy education curriculum and training to every appropriate classroom in the nation. 

With rapid growth and deepening reach in many geographic areas, NEED is reaching classrooms through workshops, school visits, inquiry-based curriculum and the traditional ways, but also reaching students and teachers online with video segments about the Science of Energy experiments, redesigned curriculum guides for ease of download, and coming soon, the launch of lessons designed to be used with today’s exciting classroom technology.  This year, NEED undertook the challenge of aligning the entire curriculum portfolio to state science standards.  It was no small task, but this tool will provide educators with the links needed to meet educational standards while integrating much needed energy content into the classroom. 

As energy discussions become far more commonplace, NEED teachers, students and families find themselves often at the center of these discussions in the community, the workplace, and around the dinner table.  NEED teachers and students are the local energy experts in many communities.  Energy is taught, learned, and understood in NEED classrooms.  

NEED classrooms are any classroom. Many teachers choose to use NEED curriculum and kits in the science classroom, others consider energy policy and energy decision making in the social science classroom.  Math students are analyzing the amount of electricity used by appliances and determining the amount of carbon dioxide emitted.  Career and Technology educators have students determining the best place to install solar panels and wind turbines and are learning how to provide energy efficiency expertise to their local community residents.  In the art, music, and language arts classroom students are writing persuasive essays about energy, singing songs about electricity, and performing plays about transportation fuels. 

Energy is an important topic as the global population faces many energy challenges and opportunities.  Today’s students must learn to apply energy technologies to use energy more efficiently, to lessen or eliminate environmental impacts of energy use, and to find new ways to use our energy sources more wisely and more economically. 

NEED students are the energy workforce of the future.  They will be designing more efficient energy technologies, building cleaner burning power plants, working miles offshore exploring for natural gas and petroleum, installing wind and wave technologies on our outer continental shelf, and finding the best places for wind and solar technologies across the country.  A NEED student may make the next breakthrough in energy technology or may write ground-breaking energy legislation that considers science, economics, and the environment. 

NEED teaches the science of energy and provides objective information about energy sources—their use and impact on the environment, economy, and society. NEED educates teachers, students, families, and the general public about energy consumption, efficiency and conservation and provides tools to help educators, energy managers, and consumers use energy wisely.  NEED’s curriculum expansion into specialized modules about various energy topics has extended and enriched many classrooms.  Students learn about liquefied natural gas, river transportation of energy products, climate change, and many other diverse topics.  NEED believes in the power of a Kids Teaching Kids approach to an expanded knowledge of energy.  Students learn about energy by teaching their peers and their parents.

NEED partners with organizations, agencies, and companies that believe in the value of energy education, the development of a strong energy workforce, and smart energy decision-making.  From major multi-national energy companies to state energy offices and local wind and solar installers, NEED’s partners and sponsors are dedicated to the preparation of tomorrow’s workforce and decision makers using comprehensive, science-based energy information and curriculum. Every partnership considers an energy literate public the pathway to success – in the classroom and throughout the energy sector. 

From a collection of three or four activities in 1980 when Jerry Katz founded NEED as a one-day celebration of energy, NEED curriculum has grown to include over 120 teacher and student guides at all levels and over 40 hands-on kits.  NEED has expanded from a small geographic footprint in its early days to now reaching all 50 states, the U.S. territories and hosting the first international NEED workshop in Thailand with the support of the Energy Ministry of Thailand.  With NEED materials now translated into Spanish, Thai, and Japanese, NEED continues to consider opportunities to provide its substantial curriculum portfolio and expertise in teacher training to a global audience. 

The next 30 years will be rewarding and filled with exciting energy education opportunities.  Teachers and students will continue to find value in the NEED program – the curriculum, the training, and the support provided by a staff that works each day to make energy education relevant, engaging, and accessible to every appropriate classroom.  It is NEED’s people – the teachers, students, sponsors, and partners who make the organization successful. 

The educators, students, board members, state coordinators, sponsors, and community partners who support the program say that working with NEED is one of the most rewarding things about their jobs. The NEED network provides the energy necessary for growth, expansion, and the delivery of high quality curriculum and training.  The members of the network are the reason for and the result of NEED’s success.

At this 30^th anniversary, there is much gratitude, great appreciation, and the hope for lasting success. 

THE STEPS OF NEED PROGRAMMING

The NEED curriculum is divided into eight steps; each builds on the others to form a comprehensive energy unit that encourages even the youngest students to understand how energy is an integral part of their daily lives.

THE SCIENCE OF ENERGY

The curriculum begins with science foundations and incorporates science and inquiry learning into all of its materials. Students at all grade levels learn about the forms of energy—heat, light, motion, sound, nuclear energy, and electricity—with age-appropriate, hands-on explorations that emphasize the scientific process and experimental design.

SOURCES OF ENERGY

The NEED curriculum provides comprehensive, objective information and activities on the energy sources that fuel our country, including their economic and environmental impacts. They explore the history of energy, energy in current events, and consider future energy opportunities and challenges. Students consider energy choices in social studies classrooms and learn about energy policy and decision making. Students will learn more about offshore energy with the newly updated Ocean Energy curriculum. 

ELECTRICITY

NEED students learn about the atom and the particles that make up the atom. They learn about electrons and how they move; they build batteries and electromagnets. They explore circuits and learn how electricity is generated and measured. They delve into fusion and fission, photovoltaics and superconductors, electricity regulation, green pricing, and politics and policy.

Students consider cleaner-coal technologies, renewable electricity, and natural gas fired electricity generation. They research nuclear energy as a growing option for generating the nation’s electricity. Thanks to the support of the U.S. Department of Energy and the United States Energy Association, NEED students will learn about Carbon Capture and Storage beginning in the 2010-2011 school year. 

TRANSPORTATION

NEED’s transportation materials cover the transportation fuels and vehicles in use today and the fuels and vehicles of the future. Students learn about today’s fuels such as gasoline, diesel, ethanol, and biodiesel. Students learn about hydrogen with the DOE-sponsored H₂ Educate curriculum and expand their knowledge of petroleum and its uses with the Fossil Fuels to Products curriculum, and consider the transportation of energy resources using the RiverWorks Discovery supported River Transportation module - an exploration of how energy sources reach the power plant. 

EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION

Learning to use energy wisely is the capstone component of the NEED program.  Students learn to read utility meters, use light meters, investigate phantom loads, and evaluate information from EnergyGuide labels. They learn about caulking, weather-stripping, and programmable thermostats. They monitor energy consumption and explore ways to reduce it—like using ENERGY STAR^® products at home and at school. Students and their families participate in the Change a Light, Change the World campaign.

As school districts continue to seek ways to reduce budgets – many turn to energy conservation as a way to reduce overall costs. NEED co-hosts High Performance Schools Conferences, Energy Management for Schools Conferences, and provides educational energy audits to schools. 

SYNTHESIS

NEED’s curriculum includes many activities to help synthesize energy information and create valuable connections between science and social science and the application of knowledge to decision making.  Students undertake problem based learning activities and explore best practices for many energy decisions. 

EVALUATION

NEED has a Teacher Advisory Board of outstanding educators and an advisory board of energy experts to review NEED materials for scientific accuracy, comprehensiveness, objectivity, educational soundness, and effectiveness. NEED participants—students, educators, sponsors, and partners—evaluate materials and training programs, as well as new activities. Using evaluation tools included with every unit, teachers evaluate individual activities and the entire NEED program. In addition, NEED provides a variety of assessment instruments and tools for measuring student knowledge and performance.

RECOGNITION

NEED encourages and rewards student leadership and innovation by sponsoring a Youth Awards Program for Energy Achievement. Many schools participating in NEED’s programs submit reports on their energy activities. Outstanding teachers and student leaders are recognized for their efforts at the state level and are invited to attend NEED’s National Recognition Ceremonies held each June in Washington, DC. The 30^th Annual Youth Awards for Energy Achievement will host students and teachers from across the country.  They will work with their peers to explore new energy activities while NEED’s sponsors and partners consider ways to make NEED programming available to more teachers and students in the next 30 years. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

NEED trains teachers. Teachers continue to report that they do not receive adequate energy instruction in their college and university courses, yet state and national standards have significant sections devoted to the science of energy and to the energy resources used to provide electricity, transportation, and products. Working with education and energy advisors, NEED assembles professional development opportunities for teachers that not only educate, but also energize and excite. NEED removes the fear of teaching energy and takes extra care to provide primary and elementary level teachers with age appropriate materials for use in the classroom without diluting the content delivered in one-day or five-day conferences. 

As consumers and community members, teachers are a vital link in the process needed to make energy a priority at home, in the classroom, and in daily conversation. NEED believes in treating teachers as the professionals they are, and in making their time with NEED instructors valuable, entertaining, and educational.