On Friday, July 31, EDPR sponsored a teacher training workshop on renewable energy at the Boston Museum of Science.
The interactive workshop was hosted by REcharge Labs, a Minneapolis-based organization dedicated to renewable energy education. Teachers from all over Massachusetts and New York came to Boston for this event, and a few constituents of Massachusetts including Senate President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst) were in attendance, as well.
Massachusetts Senate President Rosenberg expressed his enthusiasm for this opportunity.
"As wind and solar energy become a much larger part of our energy portfolio, we need to educate future generations about the benefits of renewable energy," Rosenberg said. "I am pleased that teachers from across the Commonwealth, including from my district, have the opportunity to learn more about the changing energy landscape."
The training session provided educators with the knowledge and tools necessary to help their students build connections between STEAM - science, technology, engineering, art, and math — and the social and environmental benefits of renewable energy. Host group REcharge Labs seeks to engage and inspire today's students to become the innovative renewable energy leaders of tomorrow. The group's mission is to provide effective hands-on learning resources that bring renewable energy education to teachers and their students worldwide.
At the Boston event, teachers engaged in hands-on exercises led by both REcharge Labs and KidWind founder Michael Arquin, which they will now be able to replicate in their classrooms with the experience, lesson plans, and materials provided to them during this workshop. Teachers built model turbines and determined which materials generated the most energy.
"We've been training teachers in renewable energy for over a decade, but our goal when we launched REcharge last year was to expand and improve upon these trainings for educators, giving them access to top-quality tools for their classrooms to empowering students' excitement for scientific learning," Arquin said.
Arquin also spoke of his appreciation for EDPR's continued support and willingness to immerse students in wind energy by offering tours of our wind farms. This event was a great opportunity to inspire citizens to get involved in wind energy advocacy. Many teachers walked away from this event wishing to speak with their representatives about how much they value the opportunity for wind energy development in the northeast. Most importantly, young people will now be inspired to enter into this important and quickly growing field.
EDPR was proud to sponsor this workshop and looks forward to its continued partnership with the KidWind organization.
EDPR Sponsors Renewable Energy Workshop in Boston