Energy Source Education Council



The Energy Source Education Council (ESEC)
is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping people make informed energy decisions and develop responsible, energy-efficient lifestyles through education.

Educational Development Specialists (EDS)
is the exclusive curriculum developer and program distributor for the Council.

History
The Program
Evaluation
Distribution


History
EDS helped form the Energy Source Education Council in 1982 by bringing together a variety of U.S. energy organizations and companies, including, among others, Westinghouse Electric, Edison Electric Institute, American Gas Association, San Diego Gas & Electric, Northern States Power, Wisconsin Electric Power, Alcoa, and ARCO.

During the early 1980s, the ESEC worked with EDS and with national educational and environmental organizations to produce a million-dollar energy curriculum for the nation's schools. To date, the Energy Source Program, purchased by the schools themselves or by local energy companies who donate the materials to schools, has reached nearly 12 million students throughout the United States.

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The Program
Over the years, the Council has updated and revised the curriculum on a regular basis. Recently, EDS completed an extensive redevelopment of the Energy Source Program. The instructional units now comprising the curriculum are:

Offalot (Preschool and Kindergarten)
Energy Elves (Grades 1-2)
Energy Explorers (Grades 3-4)
People Power (Grades 5-6)

More detailed information about these Energy Source units and about how to purchase the materials can be found in Products You Can Buy.

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Evaluation
In 1992, the ESEC's Board of Directors commissioned an independent evaluation of the Energy Source Program's long term effects on students. This study found that students who had received Energy Source instruction at some point in their schooling . . .

knew substantially more about energy
were more interested in energy
and reported doing more to conserve energy than students not receiving this instruction.

The evaluator estimated that Energy Source students use at least 80 fewer kilowatt hours of residential energy than non-instructed students use each year. This is the only study ever conducted that documents the positive, long-term effects of energy education.


Distribution
Through EDS, the Energy Source curriculum is distributed to:

utility companies who give the instructional units free to their local schools
school districts or schools who purchase the curriculum for their teachers
individual teachers who directly purchase units themselves.

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For More Information
To learn more about the Energy Source Education Council, you can contact the Council's Executive Director and EDS President, Kay Ice, at (562) 434-6225 or e-mail KayIce@aol.com.

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