To help build an “energy-aware” generation of students, researchers at the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State University have developed a curriculum package to teach 9th graders about renewable sources of energy.
Based on a model curriculum in use in Australia, the package is currently being tested in the Wake County School System and is expected to be available statewide next year. It includes books, computer software, videotapes, and fact sheets on solar, biomass, wind, water, and geothermal energy.
For more information about the curriculum, “Energy, Technology, and Society,” contact the North Carolina Solar Center, Box 7401, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-7401; or call, toll-free, (800) 33-NC-SUN.
The Center for Civic Education, which sponsors the annual bicentennial competition on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, has created a new program to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Congress.
The non-competitive program, “We the People ... Congress and the Constitution,” is aimed at enhancing upper-elementary, junior-high, and high-school students’ knowledge of constitutional issues.
As in the competition, students in the new program study a specially prepared curriculum on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and demonstrate their understanding by taking part in a simulated Congressional hearing conducted by community representatives.
Participating schools are eligible to receive free curricular materials, inservice teacher training in the center’s curriculum, consultation from the center’s network of state and Congressional-district coordinators, and award certificates.
For more information, contact the Center for Civic Education, 5146 Douglas Fir Rd., Calabasas, Calif. 91302; or call (818) 340-9320.
Parents looking for ways to help their children read can find suggestions in four brochures issued by Reading Is Fundamental Inc.
Produced with corporate and foundation support, the pamphlets offer ideas on children’s writing, summertime reading, home libraries, and family storytelling.
The guides are the latest in a series designed to “bring together the whole family around reading,” according to rif’s president, Ruth Graves.
“Encouraging Young Writers,” “Building a Family Library,” “Family Storytelling,” and “Summertime Reading” are available for 50 cents each from rif, 600 Maryland Ave., S.W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20024.--rr
