It was necessary to integrate the contract requirements for teacher training courses in such a way that it made it easy for teachers and their schools to participate. Therefore we had to conduct training courses out of teaching time and also ensure that teachers, who have much work to do outside of teaching hours, did not need to spend many additional hours at courses.

As a result a series of shorter courses were implemented and appointments were made to carry these out at convenient times for individual schools. One of the first courses was intended to be a networking opportunity to allow the participating teachers in the region to meet each other and make contacts.  Following this, courses took place on an individual or smaller group basis.

Outlines of these sessions and any accompanying materials are available here:

Session 1

Duration: 1 hour

Description: This was implemented in each of the schools on an individual basis and was aimed at the key staff contacts who would be leading the work in their schools. In this session the reasons for carrying out this project work were explained and set in the context of the need for energy education in the light of The Kyoto agreement.  The proposed progression of pupil learning through a project base was explained and the structure of the project on a regional and European level was outlined, including an introduction to the European partnership.

See General Information and Who Is Involved for download information

Session 2

Duration: 2 hours

Description: This began with a brief picture presentation of the effects of energy use on the environment and this was investigated further through the introduction of the Climate Change Map activity for pupils. Teachers were given the opportunity to try the pupil activities and discussions that followed enabled the wider environmental issues to be explored. In this way teaching staff were introduced to the environmental problems and which educational tools can be used to explain them to pupils.

Educational resources used in this session available here: Teacher Resources

Presentation Session 2

Session 3

Duration: 1 hour

Description:

This was delivered as a class session, an opportunity for teachers to observe how to teach energy education and also to learn from the information presented to the children. The theme of this session was how energy use is related to behaviour and the consequences for our environment. A FEEDU expert used slides and the classroom interactive whiteboard to set the context for how energy is produced and why we must be careful in its use. A small activity in which children were taught to visualise CO2  emissions from everyday actions in terms of the number of drinks cans or double-decker buses that could be filled. The aim was to use objects that pupils were familiar with and to illustrate that the cumulative small actions of a community in their daily lives can make a big difference to energy related problems.

Presentation Session 3

Session 4

Duration: 4 hours (Three parts)

Description:

1. This was delivered to key staff in sessions for small groups of schools. In these sessions teachers were presented with the energy survey reports of their schools and it was explained to them how their building was using energy and what they could do to make improvements.

2. Teachers were sent temperature monitoring packs and guidance for how to carry out these activities with their pupils by use of a CD-rom with on-screen instruction.

See School Energy Diary Materials and temperature monitoring Packs in Teacher Resources

 3.         This was delivered as a class session, another opportunity for teachers to observe a FEEDU expert in their own classroom. The theme of this session was how energy use can be reduced through building design. A series of slides on the classroom interactive whiteboard and an activity in which a pupil is insulated to demonstrate how warmth in the home can be created and maintained illustrated the importance of insulation. Pupils were then led through an activity in which they examined the properties of samples of insulation and tried to match them to their uses.

Presentation Session 4

Session 5

Duration: 1 hour

Description:

The remainder of the training time was delivered in a variety of ways.

Newsletters about the project included ideas for teaching about energy in articles about the activities of other European partners and the examples of children’s work from regional schools.

 A number of schools requested help through out the project and as part of the support available through this project a FEEDU expert was able to attend and give any necessary advice or assistance.

 A final de-briefing meeting with each school was also held in which teachers had the opportunity to talk through their work and ask questions related to how to teach energy education in the future.

Newsletter 2005

Newsletter 2006