A national workshop on clean energy education took place at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, on October 13, 2011. The workshop is the first in a series of activities that will bring together experts in energy education to lead the nation in creating an energy literate citizenry for the 21st century. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the workshop was organized by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in collaboration with the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and the Illinois Green Economy Network of Community Colleges.  Participants included experts across the P-20 spectrum, members of government, and representatives of industry to answer the question “What are the crucial elements in a national program of clean energy education, and what are the best practices that such a program should adopt?”

 

Carl Wieman, Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Nobel laureate, gave the keynote address, speaking from his Washington office.  A five-member panel then discussed and debated the goals and challenges of clean energy education from diverse viewpoints. The closing address by Juergen Scheffran, University of Hamburg, Germany, expand the issue to the international stage. See the video recordings of these and other talks given at the workshop. Current and planned educational activities at the collaborating institutions were highlighted in poster presentations.

 

In the afternoon, invited participants worked in breakout sessions to draft recommendations for the national report.  These participants included faculty from approximately 30 universities, community colleges and schools, as well as leaders from business and industry, government and non-government organizations.  The workshop represented a unique collaboration between public and private institutions in an effort to address a topic of critical national need.

 

The workshop report highlights four crucial underpinnings of clean energy education – the need for a systems approach, stakeholder engagement, multiple literacies, and institutional transformation. It also suggests a series of immediate- and long-term strategies for implementing CEE across the educational spectrum, including K-12 schools, colleges and universities, workforce training, business and industry, and international exchanges. 



 

The Workshop Organizing Committee Members

John Abelson, chair - Materials Science & Engineering and the EaSE Initiative at Illinois

Jeff Brawn - Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences at Illinois

Bridget Calendo & Jeff Henderson - Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern

George Crabtree - Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois-Chicago

Brian Deal - Urban and Regional Planning at Illinois

Julie Elzanati - Illinois Green Economy Network of Community Colleges

Liz Moyer & Robert Topel - Booth Energy Institute at the University of Chicago

Tod Treat - Richland Community College and the College of Education at Illinois

Tim Lindsey & Aida Williams - Business Innovation Services at Illinois