Resource Library

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a program of the U.S. Department of Energy, offers resources for K-12 students and teachers. Student programs seek to promote science, mathematics and technology education using renewable energy as the vehicle to capture student interest.

The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy's Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) program is to provide a continuum of opportunities to students and teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The NCSE-NASA Interdisciplinary Climate Change Education Team is developing a curricular package on climate change based on a University of California Davis course taught by Professor Arnold Bloom. The curriculum includes modules that cover a wide range of topics relevant to climate change.

Water on the Web (WOW) helps college and high school students understand and solve real-world environmental problems using advanced technology. WOW is a complete package containing two sets of curricula, data from many lakes and rivers nationwide, extensive online primers, data interpretation and Geographic Information System Tools, and additional supporting materials.

PULSE is an interdisciplinary curriculum. It is designed to improve life science literacy by providing lessons for core high school subjects that address environmental health and biomedical research. These topics are equally relevant and motivating within science classrooms and also in those of geography, language arts, government, world and American history, and mathematics classes.

This lesson plan from the BRIDGE DATA Series introduces students to the threat that lost of abandoned crab pots pose to marine life, as they continue to catch animals without letting them go. Students analyze data collected from recovered derelict fishing gear and calculate the loss of potential catch that it causes. Materials and related resources for the lesson plan can be downloaded online.

The Gulf of Mexico Deep-Sea Ecosystem Education Materials Collection, developed by NOAA's Office of Exploration and Research, is comprised of an Educators' Guide and 16 lesson plans on deep-sea ecosystems and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

This curriculum guide from Data in the Classroom contains five activities for grades 6-8 that incorporate real data from NOAA. Students learn how to access and interpret sea surface height and tide data.

In this lesson plan from National Geographic Xpeditions, students learn the components of a wave, and then discuss the effects of wave height, wavelength and wave period in determining the overall size of a wave. The lesson plan is appropriate for grades 9-12 and adheres to National Geography Standards.

Classroom Energy is a fun web site created by the American Petroleum Institute. The website offers online, interactive games, activities and video tours as well as K-12 curricula and kits involving energy basics, oil and natural gas and energy, technology and the environment. Resources are organized by topic, media type and grade level.