Energy for ME: Using energy literacy education to promote environmental awareness and local action for middle and high school students

Background/Question/Methods

Today’s students want to learn about issues and concepts influence their lives. They have a thirst for connectivity, a passion for their place, and unparalleled digital media fluency. Energy for ME, funded by the NSF’s ITEST program, is a community-based project designed to help students and the communities they live in recognize local energy challenges, and provides motivations for finding creative solutions for reducing energy consumption by making more sustainable energy decisions. E4ME has harnessed the enthusiasm of students and teachers by giving them the opportunity to use cutting edge technology in their schools, homes, and communities.  Since Earth Day 2012, the program has resulted in collective savings of more than $88,000; 655,000 kWh of electricity; and 608,000 lbs. of CO2.

The E4ME project is grounded in an innovative framework that brings together the power of 1) place-based education; 2) non-hierarchal learning communities, and 3) the applied use of technology.  The use of place-based education strategies connects students and teachers with their communities through hands-on, real-world learning experiences on community-based projects (Sobel, 2005).  At the model’s core are the assumptions that: 1) schools and young people are among our most important community resources; 2) successful education projects must build local connections with traditional core curricula standards; and 3) all project results must answer questions that are relevant to that community (Kermish-Allen et al., 2008).

Results/Conclusions

The findings this presentation will share answer the following questions. To what degree do:

1. Students become skilled in data collection, analysis, and display?
2. Students gain skill at using data to answer questions about energy?
3. Participants become more knowledgeable about energy production and use?
4. The project change students’ energy consumption and environmental stewardship behaviors?
5. Students become more interested in pursuing an energy-related career or any STEM-related career?

To answer these questions the research team used a combination of pre-post content assessments, performance-based assessments, pre-post surveys, validated science career interest instruments, environmental stewardship and behavior measures, and interviews.  Findings (n=203) show that this learning model consistently generates statistically significant learning outcomes.  Statistically significant learning gains including increases in 1) STEM energy content knowledge (20% increase, p<.001); 2) pro-environmental behavior (10% increase, p<.001); 3) environmental awareness (20% increase, p<.001) of how electricity use affects their home, school, community, the state of ME, and the global climate; and 4) interest in STEM related jobs (8% increase, p,.01).