How I used these materials/Juvenile Detention Center Energy Education Unit

From OOGEEP

Submitted by M.J. Hefner, Shawnee Local Schools/ACJDC

Consider energy education and your science curriculum. How can you incorporate what you have learned?

I am a teacher/tutor at a County Juvenile Detention Center. The Center is a residential facility and is part of the County Common Pleas Juvenile Court. Residents come from approximately 30 different elementary, middle and senior high schools in the area, and the daily average population is 40. Youth may be in our facility anywhere from one day to as long as a year. Some are enrolled in public or parochial school, and some have been expelled or simply are not enrolled in school. School attendance at the J.D.C. is mandatory, and since all youth are 24 hr. residents with us, they are in school every day. My job is primarily that of facilitator and tutor. I troubleshoot individual learning problems and find ways to increase understanding and motivation. If students are enrolled in their own school, then assignments are brought from that school to the J.D.C. If they need to be put in our curriculum, then it is my job to place them in the appropriate materials. Often, their level of functioning or their school experience is so far below the norm, that I need to provide many various worksheet activities for them before I can accurately access their ability levels. If it is determined that a student’s reading level is sufficient, then I normally give him/her a Weekly Reader “Current Science Magazine” to read and complete the accompanying worksheets. This activity is used until assignments are prepared for them. For the most part, students like science more than any other academic subject. “Current Science” fills a tremendous need for us. So, I feel that I already have an advantage for introducing a supplementary Energy Education assignment whenever and wherever it is needed. We are not responsible for teaching any Ohio Curriculum benchmarks/standards in our school, but we try to keep every student on a track of progress in each subject. We have a very good record when it comes to students passing their OGT tests while incarcerated. Many have passed parts of that test while they have been with us simply because they have been well fed, rested, motivated and in a studious mode. There is very little computer use by students. The Center is not set up for mass computer use by students. This may change in the near future, but for now, we use textbooks, resource books, worksheets, and activities that students can use by themselves and get tutorial help as needed. For those reasons, I keep topical worksheet units available in all subjects. Our materials are all up-to-date and I use the internet quite often when preparing these units. At the J.D.C., we never know when a student will be brought in. Activities suitable for any level need to always be ready. Being brought into the J.D.C. is usually a traumatic experience for kids, so I try to give assignments will interest them and calm them, rather than overwhelm them. I am hoping that this unit will be a favorite with the students.

[edit] Individualized Energy Education Unit

All instruction is individual. There is no discussion, group work, lecture, demonstration, or lab work. Students are not allowed to communicate with one another at all during school. Students must be kept motivated to work by themselves. I need to always have supplemental units ready to give students. The study of petroleum, plastics and recycling is an area I know students are usually curious about and interested in learning. Benchmark: Understand that humans use resources in their environment to improve their existence. Polymer/Plastic Recycling & Natural Gas and Crude Oil Products Create a packet of lessons with the following pages in this order, copied from the OOGEEP Resource Notebook

• “What Does Oil Do for You"
• “What Would Your World Be Without Petrochemical Products?”
• “Which of These Common Petroleum Products Do You Have?”
• “Petro Scramble"
• "Recycling Code" chart from Science Teachers Workshop Manual
• Create a Comparison Matrix graphic organizer so students can fill in the name of each polymer and its corresponding recylcing code along the top of the page.
• Use www.wordle.net/create and make a “word cloud” list of 20 common plastic items (ex: Styrofoam cup, Tide bottle, Wesson Oil bottle, Saran Wrap, PVC pipe, plastic lawn chair, chip dip container, plastic spoon, etc.)Using the Recycling Code chart and the Comparison Matrix, students will identify the name of the Polymer and the Recycling Code of each common plastic item.
• Students will make a list of 25 petroleum products they think they cannot live without. List any they already recycle and list any they think they could/should recycle.