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. The MOLU has been displayed
recently at two industry association annual meetings. For a video on the
MOLU,
click here. Firefox users
click here for a direct link to the video.
In February 2009,
the Foundation for Energy Education and the Offshore Energy Center (OEC)
formed a formal 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, we believe 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.
