Energy Education for Tomorrow's Teachers | | |
Pre-service teachers are students who are training in post-secondary education programs to become licensed teachers.
KEEP's Pre-Service Educator Training introduces future educators to energy education concepts. Pre-service teachers learn creative hands-on energy activities that can be adapted to many grade levels and subject areas.
In 2024, KEEP trained more than 500 pre-service educators at 15 higher educational institutions in Wisconsin.
And while KEEP has conducted these trainings for many years, it isn't always something that we shared much about. So this month, as we look ahead to a new year, we wanted to dive deeper into this important aspect of our work.
| |  | Attention Teacher Educators! | |
Teacher Educator Network for Environmental Education (TENFEE) is a grassroots network of instructors in educators preparation programs (EPPs) working to advance education for environmental literacy and sustainability.
TENFEE is free and open to any instructor in a Wisconsin EPP to join.
It offers a communication hub, annual meetings, regional networking, and research opportunities.
Email Becca Franzen to learn more.
| | 5 questions with Carthage College's Lynne Steren | |
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What was your educational career journey like?
I started teaching sixth grade at an elementary school and taught all of the subjects. But when the sixth grade was moved to the middle school, I was assigned to math and science. I was totally afraid to teach science, having never had any experience in my college methods courses. But I so fell in love with the process and discovery of science on my own that I was able to share that with my students. There was learning on both our parts.
After that, I became an instructional coach and had the opportunity to really push science at the elementary level.
As for my work at Carthage, it came after I had retired five times in my life! A good friend of mine said, “Oh, you can’t retire, I have a job for you!” And I’ve been here ever since.
What do you want your science methods students to take away from your class?
Many of my students come into my class with few expectations, maybe not liking science, or having very little experience with it. So my whole point of teaching science is that I want them to realize that everything around us has some connection to a scientific principle. I want them to have an opportunity to do science, to learn from that process and take that learning into their own classrooms. I hope to teach them that you can teach as much science as you want because you can put it in with history, with math, with language arts. It’s all around us.
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What excites you about going to work every day?
I really love my students. I love the process of seeing them go through the “Aha!” moments of learning, realizing that they really could do this, and giving them the opportunity to experience what teaching is all about. It allows me to be a part of their world.
You've worked with KEEP to bring energy lessons to an elementary school as a field experience for your students. Can you tell us more about that?
When I was building the syllabus for my science methods course, I realized that there was very little time for my students to actually teach kids. I also wanted my students to realize that you don’t have to teach autonomously – there are people and connections and equipment out there that they can use.
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So three years ago we invited kids from the surrounding school district to come to Carthage for Energy Conservation Day. My science methods students work in teams of two to teach a conservation concept about energy, water or the earth to small groups of students. My students plan the event from the ground up: What lesson will we teach? What equipment is needed? What will I say? How will we engage them? They write the lesson plans, run the event, and share their lesson plans with the classroom teachers. It’s a learning process that can’t be replicated – they get better with each group that they teach, and it’s in the doing that they learn. The experience is extraordinary and I am so proud of them.
What advice would you give Wisconsin K-12 teachers to encourage science learning in their classrooms?
I would say the same thing that I say all the time to my students: Science learning is literally in the doing. Let them make mistakes, let them learn from those mistakes, let them make hypotheses and find out if they can or cannot be true. Let them disprove things.
We live science every day.
| | Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities | | • Green Team Mini-Grant Info Session | 4:00 - 5:00 p.m., February 2 | Zoom | • Green Team Mini-Grant Info Session | 4:00 - 5:00 p.m., February 4 | Zoom | | |
ACT FAST! Renew Our Schools' spring sign-up deadline is 12/20! | |
Sign up now for the spring round of the Renew Our Schools (ROS) energy conservation competition. The deadline to enroll is December 20th, 2025, for the competition which runs from February 23 through April 3rd, 2026.
ROS is a great way to learn about your school building’s energy consumption and empowers students to lead meaningful change.
Winning schools also receive a cash prize!
| | Celebrate Wind in Wisconsin! | |
We can’t wait – KidWind Worlds is coming to Madison May 17-20, 2026! This will be an amazing opportunity to watch the best teams from around the country and the world compete in solar and wind challenges.
| | Want a chance to compete in Worlds? Registration for teams to compete in KidWind at the state level closes on January 15th OR when capacity is reached, so make sure to sign your team up ASAP! Winners from the state competitions will be invited to compete at Worlds. | | Looking for another way to integrate renewable energy into your classroom? KidWind’s 2026 Energy Art Challenge is currently open, with a theme this year of “Solar POWERED.” All art must be hand-created by K-12 students, and submitted by March 2, 2026. Winners will be displayed on the KidWind website, and in past years some have even been turned into an energy calendar! | | Recognizing International Games Month in the Classroom | Did you know that November was International Games Month? We're either a month late or 11 months early, but either way, we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to some energy-related board games we like. | | Suitable for 7th grade and up, up to six people can play Power Grid. Each game does require up to two hours to play. The map board is double-sided, so players can choose to build their electricity empire in either Germany or the USA. The unique “bidding” mechanism creates a competitive environment as players vie for power plants that have different resource requirements. The more cities each player’s grid can support, the more resources are generated and the more points accumulate. However, students may find themselves “out-building” their grid, and might end up being unable to electrify all of the cities they have on the board! | |
- Try various modifications of the base game by removing or adding different types of power plants. Have students try playing with only renewable sources of energy, or further break down each “green” power plant into different types of renewable resource, from hydroelectric to solar to wind power. Designing new rules for these different types of power sources is a great exercise in creativity and systems thinking!
Although Power Grid is a challenging game that does take time to learn and play, this resource would be useful as an extension to a high school science course or as an exploration for an environmental club. Creating their own power grid allows players to conceptualize the system that powers their homes, city, and the world!
| | Did someone forward you this email? | | The KEEP program is funded with generous support by Alliant Energy, Madison Gas and Electric, We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, WPPI Energy, and Xcel Energy. | | | | |
