Students participating in the NEED Project at Scituate High and Calcutt Middle Schools planted 14 trees in Central Falls, Rhode Island.

Photo Courtesy | Rhode Island Public Schools

Rhode Island is at the frontier of energy education, offering a state-of-the-art curriculum in many of its schools. With the help of funds from the Energy Department’s State Energy Program, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources continues its partnership with the nonprofit National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) to provide energy education materials to schools and organize workshops to train teachers on energy curricula.

The NEED Project’s national network promotes energy education in more than 65,000 classrooms across the country. The curriculum is aligned to Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Energy Department’s Energy Literacy Principles. Through this instruction, students build small generators to see electricity generation up-close, and conduct energy audits of their homes and classrooms to find energy savings opportunities.

The NEED Rhode Island program is one of the strongest state programs. For more than 20 years, NEED has worked in Rhode Island with support from the Energy Department’s State Energy Program. During the 2014-2015 school year, 45 schools in the state implemented the NEED curriculum, reaching more than 34,000 students in grades K-12. The curriculum includes topics standardized nationally and topics exclusive to Rhode Island. Students learn about Rhode Island’s unique approach to renewable energy policy and energy efficiency. They also learn about energy careers in their state.

This year, the NEED Project commended six Rhode Island schools for excellence in energy education: Scituate High School, Dr. Earl F. Calcutt Middle School, A-Venture Academy, Park View Middle School, John F. Deering Middle School, and Western Coventry Elementary School.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) success stories highlight the positive impact of its work with businesses, industry partners, universities, research labs, and other entities.