2022
CLEAN ENERGY EDUCATION SUMMIT
February 10th, 2022
Day-long, Virtual Gathering
Welcome
The Summit began with a connection activity, led by JD Williams, followed by a welcome from our event leaders:
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Michael Arquin
Remy Pangle
Chaun MacQueen
JD Williams began the event with an activity focused on making connections to the overarching theme of the Summit to get attendees in the right headspace for the day. She asked attendees to think about ways that they could create conditions to enable all students to see their futures in the clean energy sector via a Mentimeter poll that recorded each answer. She followed this with a brief video by the NEF featuring children who were asked what they know about energy and renewables.
Morning Connection Exercise
Working Groups
At the Summit, discussions centered around three clean energy education themed strands.
Within those strands, working groups took up core questions at the center of the strand.
Student Experiences + Learning about Clean Energy
This strand addresses clean energy learning for all students, including student experiences and learning in school and out of school.
Working Group 1:
What are students learning in and out of school about clean energy?
What do students know and understand about clean energy?
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Working Group 2:
What are students learning in and out of school about clean energy?
What are the gaps and opportunities (i.e. in content, careers, experiences)?
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Working Group 3:
What are students learning in and out of school about clean energy?
What educational experiences equitably open up career and energy system participation opportunities?
Educator Knowledge + Learning
This strand addresses clean energy content, teaching and learning in pre-service teacher education, in-service professional learning, and postgraduate teacher education.
Working Group 4:
What are educators learning in their professional preparation and continuing education, both formally and informally, about clean energy?
What do educators need to know about clean energy?
How do we identify and address the gaps?
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Working Group 5:
How can we best equip educators to prepare students for careers
at all levels in the evolving clean energy sector?
What are the barriers for educators who want to teach about clean energy?
Clean Energy Talent Development + Career Pathways
This strand addresses current and imagined preparation, programs and pathways to develop the expertise and talent within the clean energy industry cluster to efficiently and effectively develop sustained clean energy policies and implementation.
Working Group 6:
What are the current and future clean energy career pathways within the clean energy economy for all students (including pathways for certificate, Associate, BA, Advanced Degree)?
How do students/educators learn about future energy careers pathways, and what resources are needed to help students learn about/transition after K-12 to a CTE or degree program in pursuit of a renewable energy career?
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Working Group 7:
What sorts of p-12 student curricular and programmatic offerings can cultivate student interest and access opportunities within the clean energy economy?
How can we better connect the renewable energy industry with students from all post-secondary institutions (universities, community colleges, technical schools)? What organizations exist today? Who is missing?
The Closing
We closed the event by reflecting on the day's conversations and making plans for next steps. The attendees tuned in at the end of the day to watch the summary illustration session by Viola Clark.
