WindKids'+WindWise

__Curriculum Review of “Windwise Education”: __ Kelley Fischbach, April 1, 2014


 * What organization developed the curriculum module you are evaluating?

 Windwise Education was developed by KidWind Project Inc. This for-profit organization is financially sponsored by numerous environmental groups, including the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, the Wind Energy Foundation, the American Wind Energy Association, and many others.


 *  What is the mission of the organization?

 According to their website, “ The KidWind Project is a team of teachers, engineers and scientists committed to innovative energy education. Our goal is to promote the elegance of wind power through affordable tools and training programs that challenge, engage and inspire students of all ages. KidWind offers all kinds of great hands-on kits to teach the science behind wind energy, fuel cells, and solar energy. We also have FREE lesson plans, curriculum, and PowerPoint shows for teachers and students to download here: [] ”


 *  What is the educational mission and philosophy of the organization?

The educational mission and philosophy of KidWind, as described on their website’s homepage, is as follows: “We are on a mission to develop a generation of responsibly informed thinkers and involved doers. We are committed to equipping young minds to be curious life-long learners. Why you may ask? It’s simple: we believe the responsible and informed students of today will become our innovative renewable energy leaders of tomorrow.” []


 *  What does the curriculum module aim to teach? In other words: what are the learning outcomes supposed to be?

 This module is intended for middle and high school students and aims to be a “comprehensive interdisciplinary wind energy curriculum” that teaches analytical skills to students through “inquiry-based introductions and hands-on activities.” The major facets of this curriculum are as follows: a background on wind industry trends, concepts of wind power, challenges and prospects for wind. ([])


 *  Do you think the curriculum is appropriated designed to produce the intended learning outcomes?

 A drawback to this curriculum is that it is part of a for-profit organization and I therefore can only access bits and pieces of the curriculum without purchasing it. However, it does definitely seem to be a valid and worthwhile set of lesson plans to teach secondary school students about wind power. There is a plethora of lesson plans – within this one specific “Windwise” curriculum there are 5 units with a total of 18 different lessons and activities.


 *  Does this curriculum teach the kind of literacies the EcoEd Research Group advocates?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (See below – GREEN)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (See below – RED)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> What could be layered into this curriculum so that it addresses more of the learning outcomes that the EcoEd Group advocates?

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">EcoEd Literacy Goals: __ <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This aspect is very much ignored in these lesson plans, although wildlife health is addressed to some detail. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, this is analyzed greatly in lesson plans like, “Where do you put a wind farm?” and “How does energy affect wildlife?” <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is discussed within the “KidWind” website, although not specifically in this curriculum, although stakeholder perspectives are addressed in one specific lesson here. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">No, this is not mentioned – although there is talk about the various changes that students can make to the energy grid. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, this is addressed in the “How do people feel about wind?” lesson, which describes how the media influences perception about wind energy. This could, however, definitely be expanded upon. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">To some extent, although it’s nothing to write home about. There is a lot of room for improvement here. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hardly addressed at all. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Not addressed. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, this seems to be taught very well in this curriculum, giving students an understanding of how the media affects people’s perspectives and such. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Again, addressed adequately in the section on media and perspectives. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, this is built into all of the lesson plans here. <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Could be done better, but it was addressed here in various places – although not explicitly.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of their own health and well-being as shaped by an array of both proximate and far-off causes. Diet and cigarette smoke need to be considered, for example, as well as the health effects of trans-boundary air pollution and climate change.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of how their own actions have an array of proximate and far off effects. In choosing when and what to drive, one has an effect on air quality for example. In choosing consumer products (made of vinyl, for instance), one becomes involved in an occupational health hazard.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of different scientific disciplines and medical specializations, aware that they rely on diverse methods, produce many types of knowledge, and are ever evolving. Science needs to be understood as a crucial but far from straightforward social resource.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of government at various scales, from the local to transnational, made up of diverse agencies and types of experts, which rely on diverse decision-making processes.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of the history of disaster and decision-making failures, the vulnerability of some populations and regions, and varied approaches to risk management, reduction and communication.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of potential for change, and of alternative ways of doing things and organizing society (though familiarity with historical and cross-cultural examples, for instance).
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to conceptualize complex causation, without being paralyzed.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to use empirical understanding of complex causation to identify specific points of intervention.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to recognize the multitude of factors influencing what they are told about environmental problems (such as asthma), including vested interests, disciplinary bias and blindness, and the sheer limits of knowledge.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to recognize and productively deal with diverse perspectives, avoiding the paralysis often produced by insistence on “balance” and “consensus,” leveraging heterogeneous collectivity and epistemological pluralism.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Having creative info-seeking practices, animated analytic capabilities, and a capacity to narrate complex chains of events.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of the challenges and value of deliberation and cooperative action.