U.S.+Energy



Ben Morse Module review 1: Energy Kids []

Energy Information Administration is the organization that created this learning module.
 * What organization developed the curriculum module you are evaluating?**

Their mission is to disseminate information about the different energy sources and the use of energy in the United States as well as updated news about them.
 * What is the mission of the organization?**

To educate primary and secondary school children about the different energy sources and how they are used in the United States in a politically neutral manner.
 * What is the educational mission and philosophy of the organization?**

The module aims to teaching young children and middle school students about energy sources such as coal, petroleum, solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, hydropower, and biofuels. Initial focus is on identifying the different forms that energy that are used in different situations and gradually increases conceptual complexity into how the basics of each energy source works and how society utilizes that power, i.e. mining coal, burning fuel at power plants, growing crops, etc. Eventually students look at and reflect on U.S. energy consumption and how to conserve energy.
 * What does the curriculum module aim to teach? What are the learning outcomes?**

Because the intended learning outcomes has a low standard I do believe that they meet their learning outcomes, however I do not believe that the learning outcomes are sufficient. Most games and activities do not require much more that identification skills and rarely force students to think critically or creatively about the subject matter. However, they do utilize unconventional teaching methods that are more engaging than lecturing of worksheets just as games, activities, and interactive exercises.
 * Do you think the curriculum is appropriately designed to produce the intended learning outcomes?**

The curriculum does not provide much at all of the eco literacy that EcoEd advocates. Most topics are taught in isolation without concepts of consequence or relation to another. Most information taught is simplified with a lack of complexity aimed to only understand what the current status is without questioning it or evaluating it.
 * Does this curriculum teach the kinds of literacy that the EcoEd Research Group advocates?**

I think that if they involved higher levels of blooms taxonomy such as apply, analyze, and evaluate as well as increased the complexity of the material they covered many of the ecoliteracy principles would emerge such as the interdisciplinary of energy, and the environmental consequences and how they are controlled by other factors such as political and social influences. Furthermore, I believe that more information needs to be given for renewable energy, especially biofuels. There was no mention of algal based biofuels, which is a very promising avenue for biofuels.
 * What could be layered into this curriculum so that it addresses more of the learning outcomes that the EcoEd Group advocates?**