Development and Dissemination of Bioenergy Educational Curriculum for Children

Scott D. Scheer
1,*

Dennis Hall , Jane Wright

Abstract
It is important for the field of bioenergy that future consumers, policy makers, and taxpayers develop knowledge and awareness of bioenergy. Current resources to promote bioenergy usually target youth in grades 6-12. Research indicates that to effectively impact youth knowledge, skills, and abilities, they should be reached at earlier ages for long-term developmental outcomes. Therefore, educational resources for children are needed to increase bioenergy knowledge, appreciation, and career interest. This bioenergy curriculum for children (K-2) contributes to the national science education standards content areas of life sciences and science as inquiry. The educational material is designed to inform and educate future consumers to gain knowledge and appreciation of bioenergy. The bioenergy curriculum follows the developmentally appropriate practice guidelines for primary grades as established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children Three bioenergy curriculum pieces (each with 9-10 activities) were developed in the content areas of: 1) Bioenergy Sources (e.g., grasses & algae); 2) Bioenergy Conversion (e.g., combustion, fermentation); and 3) Bioproducts (e.g., wood, biodiesel). Keywords: bioenergy education, children, curriculum, experiential learning

Introduction
It is significant for the field of bioenergy that future consumers, policy makers, and taxpayers develop knowledge and awareness of bioenergy. In addition, the demand to fill bioenergy-related jobs is expected to increase in the long-term (White and Walsh 2008) which will require todays youth to become interested in pursuing bioenergy careers. Minimal research exists about youth awareness and knowledge of bioenergy. However a recent Finnish study examining bioenergy and youth (9th graders) in relation to school, home, and media reported that youth were positive towards learning about bioenergy, but less enthusiastic for utilizing bioenergy (Halder et al. 2011). In addition, the youth indicated a positive attitude about bioenergy but lacked an understanding and knowledge of bioenergy. These results suggest that both positive attitudes and sufficient knowledge of bioenergy are needed to improve the utilization of bioenergy. Existing material to promote bioenergy knowledge, awareness, and career aspirations usually targets youth from about 6th through 12th grades. Research implies that to effectively impact youth knowledge, skills, and abilities, they should be reached at earlier ages for long-term developmental outcomes (Bronfenbrenner 2005; Enver et al. 2008). Therefore, educational resources for children are needed to increase bioenergy knowledge, appreciation, and future career interest.

Outcome-Based Objectives
1

Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership and OSU Extension, The Ohio State University, OH Ohio BioProducts Innovative Center, OH 4-H Youth Development, OSU Extension, OH

2 3

*Corresponding author

This project for developing and implementing a bioenergy education curriculum for children (K-2) is directly related to the Sun Grant priority area of education, extension, and economic development outreach by providing Extension educators curriculum to utilize with 4-H and school science education programs. The project is structured to leverage existing systems and educational opportunities. The objectives are to: 1. develop a bioenergy educational curriculum for children; 2. connect curriculum to contribute to the national science education standards in the K-4 content areas of life sciences and science as inquiry; 3. disseminate and evaluate the curriculum initially in a state 4-H Extension system (Ohio) for use with elementary-aged children (focus on K-2); 4. inform and educate future consumers to gain knowledge and appreciation of bioenergy, plus consider careers in this field.

Procedures
All too often educational material, regardless of content area is reduced in complexity or transposed for lower grade levels. Such an approach can be especially problematic since the key to effective educational programs is that it is developmentally appropriate. Therefore, it is critical the curriculum is ageappropriate to create bioenergy excitement and interest. The bioenergy curriculum follows the developmentally appropriate practice guidelines for primary grades as established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (Copple and Bredekamp 2009). Some of the key features include: creating a positive climate for learning; responding to individual and cultural variation; and using a developmentally appropriate curriculum to enhance motivation and guidance. In addition, the bioenergy educational curriculum incorporates the experiential learning model (Kolb 1984) which involves the phases of 1) experience/do, 2) share, 3) process, 4) generalize, and 5) apply. The curriculum also follows Ohios programming parameters for young children developed by the PI and used in Extension systems throughout the United States (Scheer 1997; Trutner and Scheer 2005). Program parameters include: cooperative-learning centered, activity based, noncompetitive, and success oriented. Successful educational programs exist in this area and were examined for building upon and expanding their work. Although most of these programs target youth in middle and high schools, the content base is informative. These programs include: 1. Cornells Biofuels Race to the Pumps game (Dr. Larry Walker and colleagues) and Biomass to Sugars Lab Kit (Dr. Rutzke and colleagues); and 2. Ohio BioProducts Innovative Centers (OBIC) employs a variety of educational engagement activities including bio-foam and shrink-wrap demonstrations (Dennis Hall and colleagues). In addition, Dennis Hall, Co-PI of this project collaborates with Dr. Rutzkes Northeast Bioenergy and Bioproducts (NBB) educational program for providing teachers (grades 8 - 16) with training, tools, and in class-support. Part of the effort consisted of five master teacher training mirror sites; one includes OBIC (Columbus, Ohio). The PI participated in the week-long training through OBIC to gain additional content knowledge for developing the K-2 educational material. An experiential learning model was incorporated for developing three bioenergy curriculum pieces. Each curriculum piece consists of about nine to ten developmentally appropriate activities. The curriculum pieces contain the content areas of:

1. Bioenergy Sources (focus on sources of woody crops, grasses, oil seed crops, food processing wastes, algae, etc.); 2. Bioenergy Conversion (combustion, biochemical, physical methods, fermentation, digestion, etc.); 3. Bioproducts (wood pellets, biodiesel, charcoal, biogas, bioethanol, etc.). Examples of the leader-directed activities in the three content areas are as follows: 1) bioenergy sources (Bioenergy and saving the planet: Environmental sustainability, Bioenergy and biomass: Having fun together, and Our sun: The ultimate bioenergy generator), 2) bioenergy conversion (Bioenergy combustion: Fire as fuel, Dont pass gas: Convert that biomass, and Fermentation: Sugar to Fuel), 3) bioproducts (Bio-based lubricants: Feels slippery to me, Bio-based insulation, and Fueling the future). The national science education standards (National Research Council 1996) in the K-4 content areas of life sciences and science of inquiry were supported through the learning activities across the three curriculum areas of bioenergy sources, conversion, and bioproducts. For developing learner understanding for the life science content standard of organisms and environments the bioenergy activities help children become familiar with how plants harness energy from the sun and through various processes (e.g., fermentation, combustion) as this energy is converted into bioenergy products such as biofuel. These activities follow a science of inquiry approach (e.g., ask questions, plan/conduct a simple investigation, use simple tools to gather data).

Implementation and Evaluation

Pilot testing has begun with the curriculum, plus content review. The bioenergy curriculum was evaluated for content accuracy (by co-PI, Dennis Hall, Assistant Director for the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center), developmentally appropriate practice-structure (by PI Scott Scheer, Professor and State Extension specialists) and education delivery and design (by Extension educators who focus on child development and education). The pilot-test was conducted to collect feedback from adult leaders to assess the curriculum in about 10 Ohio counties. Specific aspects of curriculum assessment include ease of use, maintains learner interest, and clarity of content. A workshop was held for Extension professionals in those counties that are pilot testing the curriculum. During the workshop participants learned about the curriculum objectives and background on bioenergy. In addition, there were six stations for them to conduct and teach each other bioenergy activities. Initially the overall feedback has been positive, however, there were some concerns that a few of the activities maybe too complicated for children in grades K-2. Once the pilot test is complete, the curriculum will be revised. The bioenergy curriculum would be available for use not only in Ohio, but in other states via web access.

Conclusions
For long-term bioenergy growth and understanding, todays children must be part of bioenergy education and extension strategies. This project developed three curriculum pieces (bioenergy sources, conversion, and bioproducts) to promote bioenergy knowledge, awareness, and career aspirations. In addition, the educational curriculum helps children begin to understand the concept of environmental sustainability and the significant role of bioenergy for providing long-term solutions to bring authentic environmental sustainability for future generations.

Acknowledgement
This project was funded by the Northeast Regional Sun Grant Initiative, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation: US DOT Assistance #DTOS59-07-G-00052.

References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (Ed.). (2005). Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Copple, C. and Bredekamp S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC. Enver, A., Partridge, M. D., and Clark, J. K. (2008). Growth and change: Closing Ohios knowledge gap to build a 21st century economy. The Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy and Exurban Change Project Summary Report. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University. Halder, P., Havu-Nuutinen, S., Pietarinen, J., and Pelkonen, P. (2011). Bio-energy and youth: Analyzing the role of school, home, and media from the future policy perspectives. Appl. Energ., 80, 12331240. Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice Hall. National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Scheer, S. D. (1997). Programming parameters for five to eight year-old youth in 4-H. J. Extension [Online serial] 35(4). Available URL address: http://www.joe.org Trutner, S., and Scheer, S. D. (2005). 4-H Cloverbud volunteer guidebook. Columbus OH: The Ohio State University Extension publications. White, S., and Walsh, J. (2008). Greener pathways: Jobs and workforce development in the clean energy economy. Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Workforce Alliance, Apollo Alliance. Available URL address: http://www.cows.org/greenerpathways