Springdale, AR-- Deep Dive Workshops

This project was made possible with funding from the Arconic Foundation. Arconic Foundation’s mission is to support non-profit partners who advance STEM Education and Workforce Development in Arconic communities. This is the second time that Evansville has been a location for an Arconic workshop with CE.  As it is the second round of delivery for this region, a focus on expanding the initial impact was made and the workshop was extended to two days.  CE co-planned with workshop with the district to get a sense of how the initial workshop had impacted their curriculum and hands-on instruction.

This workshop was broken apart into two days: one day for 6^th grade and one for 7^th. These grade ranges were chosen by the district as they had the highest perceived need in terms of curricular gaps.  Additionally, the standards at these two grade levels are in the most alignment with curriculum that CE offers for the state of Arkansas.  On Day 1, 6^th grade teachers spent time building background knowledge in energy fundamentals (using Energy Theatre), solar circuits, and solar vehicles.  In the afternoon, much of their time was spent looking into solar home design curriculum.  For Day 2, 7^th grade teachers additionally practiced Energy Theatre and explored solar circuits.  However, they also devoted time to modeling different grid interactions using ReCharge Labs grid kit supplies.  In groups, they modeled the difference between a blackout and a brownout, walking through the steps using hands-on demonstrations.  These teachers utilized this knowledge of grid dynamics as a foundation for exploring emergency energy resources in the curriculum-focused section of the afternoon.