University of Northern Iowa
IN-2: Innovation 2

CEEE Energy & Environmental Education Programs

Programs for children and youth in grades K-12, community college, and universities are offered in this group of programs. Numerous hands-on experiences and curricula can be found to help students and train teachers to better understand the issues of energy and the environment at appropriate levels for all.

Programs include:
-Energy Education Program – The Fabulous Resources for Energy Education (FREE) program provides all educators, both formal (K-16) and informal (Scout and 4-H leaders, naturalists, science center staff, etc.) with training, materials, and activities to empower them to teach about energy efficiency and renewable energy. The training includes workshops for preservice teachers and graduate credit classes that teachers may use for recertification and salary advancement. Materials include model solar and wind kits that promote inquiry learning, games that motivate behavior change, and tools such as Kill-a-Watt meters and laser thermometers for investigating energy efficiency. Activities include lesson plans and specific activities that teachers can incorporate into their own personal lesson plans. Our goal is to educate and motivate educators, who will then educate and motivate their students. It is especially important to teach students before they become adults, with set values and habits.
2010 Impacts: 14,959 K-12 students and their 826 teachers in 59 of Iowa's 99 counties understand how energy impacts their lives.

-Environmental Issues Instruction (eii) - provides in-service instruction to educators K-14. The program provides teachers both content and teaching methods to enhance student understanding and skills in dealing with environmental issues. The program has presented various themes, all of which deal with components of environmental sustainability. As an example, the current instructional theme is "Rain, Runoff and Rivers: Understanding Watersheds." The culminating stage of the instruction involves students in actions they choose to mitigate flooding and foster sustainability in there own neighborhoods.
2010 Impacts: 58 Iowa teachers, and 3,000 K-14 students were trained in eii.

-Farm Energy Working Group – facilitated by CEEE and brings together a diverse group of farmers, utility providers, educators, businesses and others with the goal of assisting small to mid-sized farms meet a greater portion of their energy need from their farms (efficiency, small wind, solar thermal, biomass, biogas, solar electric) . The group offers mini grants for on-farm demonstrations, workshops, field days, and other opportunities to learn about practical energy conservation and renewable energy practices for the farm.
2010 Impacts: Facilitated workshops in 2010 reaching 50 working group members, 70 farmers, and 20 others.

-Solar Instructor Training – initiative’s goal is to build statewide capacity and provide training for community colleges and other experienced installers of solar energy systems so that they can train new installers of solar hot water and solar electric systems across the state of Iowa.
2010 Impacts: Facilitated workshops reaching 23 installers, 25 higher education representatives from across the state, 15 government officials, and 6 utility representatives in 2010.

-Waste Reduction and Recycling Workshops - Waste Reduction Education that targets educators and future educators through professional development workshops and sessions. The goal with these is to introduce lesson plans and resources to teachers that are meaningful and relevant, so when used in their classrooms, students are engaged. Another goal is to help teachers meet Iowa Core requirements.
2010 Impacts: workshops were conducted reaching 354 educators and 9,878 students.

-Floods of the Future – a series of community forums (planned by Univ. of Iowa, CEEE, and Rebuild Iowa Office) designed to reach elected officials, planners, and community leaders to better understand Iowa’s changing climate and consider resilient strategies to better deal with floods of the future.
2010 Impacts: In 2010 the CEEE Director partnered with the Rebuild Iowa Office and the University of Iowa to reach 700 city planners and public officials to better plan for floods in the future.