HOUSTON - The Offshore Energy Center (OEC) and the Foundation for Energy Education in a formal partnership to collaborate on energy education in the schools. This will expand usage of the Center's Mobile Offshore Learning Unit (MOLU) to schools across Texas, and it will increase the training of teachers to utilize the Center's various instructional kits in classrooms. (For a video on the MOLU, click here. Firefox users click here for a direct link to the video.)

The Foundation for Energy Education and the Offshore Energy Center (OEC) formed a partnership to expand energy education in schools across Texas. This effort builds on an existing program that the Center already had underway in the greater Houston area.

Initially, the partnership is focusing on expanding usage of the Center’s Mobile Offshore Learning Unit (MOLU) across the state. It will also increase participation of elementary and secondary teachers in the Center’s Project E³: Expanding Energy Education workshops. These workshops train teachers on how to utilize the MOLU, as well as two types of in-the-classroom teaching kits—"Playing With Petroleum" for grades K through 5; and "Knowledge Boxes" for grades 6 through 12. Given the growing importance of energy in people’s daily lives, webelieve it is critical to provide today’s children with this essential knowledge in a fun and easy-to-understand manner. These initiatives are an important complement to the Foundation’s other educational activities.