SCHOOLS
Green lessons begin in kindergarten
Schools tackle ecology issues at every grade level
Students at the Erie 1 Board of Cooperative Education Services hope in the near future to include solar panels on the houses they build each year.
In Williamsville, a hydrogen fuel-cell car was brought to all three district high schools last year for lessons on green technology.
And in Buffalo, pupils begin learning about alternative energy sources as early as kindergarten and first grade.
Throughout the region, local schools are ramping up instruction in green technology to help prepare students for what is widely perceived as a movement that will generate widespread job growth, improve the environment and lessen the nation’s dependence on oil from the Middle East.
President Obama’s emphasis on alternative energy sources is adding a sense of urgency to that effort.
“Our objective is that our students be prepared for the new industries and approaches that we anticipate will be the wave of the future,” said Melody Jason, associate director for career and technical education at Erie 1 BOCES.
Much of that effort involves infusing green technology into BOCES’ existing courses. For example:
• Biodiesel fuel is being discussed in a pre-engineering class.
• Students in a computer-aided design course worked up a wind turbine model for the planned new Peace Bridge.
• Renewable energy is becoming a key component of a course on electricity.
In addition, BOCES hopes to train a teacher as a turbine training technician and another as a solar thermal installer, Jason said. And small-scale wind turbines could be used to power classroom projects.
The state Education Department is working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to develop guidelines for classroom instruction in green technology, said Robert
M. Bennett, chancellor of the state Board of Regents.
“There’s room for it in the curriculum right now, and we’ll sharpen it as we go along,” Bennett said.
In the meantime, Bennett said, schools are independently finding ways to teach about green technology.
“You’d have to be not paying very much attention if you weren’t doing something like this,” he said,
Williamsville has been expanding instruction in green technology for several years, said Thomas G. Bird, the district’s instructional specialist for science, home and careers and business.
“We’ve always been environmentally conscious, but I do think there’s a new push,” Bird said. “You’re always modifying your curriculum. That’s a continuous process.”
Fourth-graders in Williamsville learn about energy -fficient light bulbs and fifth-graders discuss hybrid cars while building motors. A teacher at Williamsville North High School won a grant to set up a bicycle-powered generator.
Now, a more concerted effort is being made to incorporate green technology in the kindergarten through sixth-grade curriculum, Bird said.
In Buffalo, green technology is introduced as early as kindergarten and first grade, and more extensive units on alternative energy begin in seventh grade and continue in high school, said Kelly Baudo, supervisor of science education.
Plans are also in the works to have students visit local wind turbines and hydroelectric power plants.
“This type of instruction is coming into the classroom quite a bit,” Baudo said. “I believe it will increase a lot over the next couple of years.”
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