While browsing on the US Energy Information Administration's web page, I found an interesting area that was devoted to children.
The EIA Kid's Page was developed to pass on energy knowledge to young students who want to learn about energy.
In collaboration with the National Energy Education Development (NEED) project, EIA helps maintain the site mainly for students and teachers who need information about energy.
Among the companies or organizations involved in sponsoring NEED are Halliburton Foundation, Global Marine Inc., the US Minerals Management Service, and Shell Exploration & Production Co., as well as many of the state oil and gas associations.
This web site may not be very technical in nature, but it does have several links that are very useful for quick takes of the industry.
Kid's Corner
The Kid's Corner section highlights "Energy Infocard," where a student can quickly view statistics on energy segments such as petroleum, natural gas, renewables, coal, electricity, and world energy data.
This section showcases important data points for production, imports, consumption, and prices. It also links back to EIA's site for each energy sector for more detailed and individualized information.
One section of this web page listed some interesting stories of programs and experiments about energy that you probably wouldn't see in OGJ but would be informative to a young student, such as "French fries for fuel," "Traffic lights are significant energy users," and "Using nature to capture greenhouse emissions."
Classroom Connection
Teachers can go to the Classroom Connection site to find resources for activities that would enhance their teaching of energy and science.
NEED has energy education guidelines that will help students obtain the knowledge of certain aspects of science needed before graduating from high school.
The teacher's site illustrates experiments for use in the classroom ranging from primary activities and elementary exploration to intermediate experiments and secondary school research.
Students can also get information on converting the various units of measurement.
They even can be linked to the NEED website (www.need.org) to find ideas for a science fair project.
Mission of NEED
The mission of the NEED project is to "promote an energy-conscious and educated society by creating effective networks of students, educators, business, government, and community leaders to design and deliver objective, multisided energy education programs."
So why tell OGJ readers about this site? Because it is readers' companies and associations that are giving their money, knowledge, and time to projects such as this to enhance knowledge and inform our society of the huge impact energy has on our daily lives.
And there's a good chance that sites such as this one this will inspire students to get excited about science and explore the possibilities of a career in the energy industry.
