Abstract

Recent studies show an increase in the severity of climate change. There is a need for (1) minimizing the spread and effect of climate change on the earth and (2) positively influencing behaviors affecting the climate. Out-of-School Time (OST) programs provide students an opportunity to engage in such complex issues. To educate students on the effects of climate change and make their learning relatable, the STEM Outreach Center at a higher education institution in the southern New Mexico region created a 10-week curriculum for an OST program. We piloted the Alternative Energy curriculum in fall 2019 at three local public middle schools. Preliminary feedback from teachers and students show a high level of engagement and knowledge assimilation among students. Lessons and activities in the curriculum are based on the Engineering Design Process, which guides students through steps to research, plan, design, evaluate, and improve their ideas to solve a problem.

Citation

Otoo, S., Chatterjee, S., Wheeler, P. & Morales, S. (2020). A Curriculum for Teaching Alternative Energy in Middle School Grades. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1438-1443). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved August 13, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215908/.

© 2020 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

Keywords

• Instructional Design