Connect! Transform the Future

Teach About Complex Issues in Energy Conservation

Image courtesy NASA

National Geographic designed education materials to bring students in grades 4-12 content about energy sources, energy efficiency, and energy conservation. These free, standards-based, online education resources were developed for formal and informal educators to engage students in science, social studies, and geography concepts related to energy. These resources provide innovative strategies and approaches to teach about complex energy topics in the classroom.

Questions about energy cannot be easily answered, and energy-related decisions require the work of many experts to address economic, political, environmental, and social factors. Be mindful of the complexity of issues around energy topics in both the national and global conversation as you engage students in these topics.

Educating about energy and energy choices is necessary. Students are future decision-makers, and the choices they make will be crucial to solving tomorrow’s energy problems. Arming students with a greater understanding of energy allows them to make wise choices in their lives and communities.

Activities for Grades 4-8

The Right Balance: Mixing Energy Resources

How can using different combinations of energy resources affect population's use of electricity?

Energy Solutions: Tapping into the Topography of Lake Turkana

How do geographic, environmental, and social factors influence the decisions made around energy challenges?

How does the supply of non-renewable resources affect our supply of electricity?

The Role of Water in the Generation of Electricity

What role does water play in the generation of electricity?

Electrical Energy from Source to Destination

How does energy from a power plant escape before it gets to your home? How does that affect how much energy is available at home?

Hydroelectric and Geothermal: Benefits and Drawbacks

How do hydroelectric and geothermal energy impact the environment? What are the benefits and drawbacks involved in using these energy resources as part of a diversified energy portfolio?

Solar Energy and Diversifying Energy Resources

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using solar farms to generate electricity?

How is energy efficiency information about appliances communicated to consumers?

Conserving Energy through Grid Modernization

What are some ways grid modernization technology increases the efficiency of energy distribution? How do the choices we make as a society affect the conservation of energy?

National Geographic Explorers

Find out what National Geographic explorers are contributing to the global energy conservation.

Engineer and Renewable Energy Advocate

Urban Planner

Chemist

Energy Data Layers

Use the MapMaker Interactive to explore alternative energy use by countries across the globe.

Use the MapMaker Interactive to explore carbon emissions from countries across the globe.

Electricity Generation from Renewable Energy

Use the MapMaker Interactive to find out which countries are getting their electricity from renewable sources of energy and how they are doing it.

Guides

Check out our environmental literacy teacher guide, designed to familiarize teachers of students in Grades 3-8 with both the technical terminology about energy, and the energy efficiency and conservation issues that have become so important in recent years.

The Connect! Transform the Future collection was designed based the US Department of Energy’s Energy Literacy Principles. These principles provide a framework for energy education for learners of all ages. If understood and applied, the principles help individuals and communities make informed energy decisions.

Energy Resource Photo Gallery

This crop of corn in Ontario, Canada, could be intended for use as fuel, or corn biomass.
Photograph by Wei Chu, My Shot
Labadie, Missouri coal fired power plant viewed from north bank of Missouri river.
Photograph by Charles Brennecke, My Shot
An aerial view shows Decker coal strip mining.
Photograph by Emory Kristof
Debris is cleared from a deep coal-mining operation.
Photograph by Dick Durrance
Aerial view of mountain top leveling for coal mining.
Photograph by George Steinmetz
Geothermal steam pours from the Svartsengi Power Plant at Blue Lagoon in Iceland.
Photograph by Paul A. Souders/CORBIS
A natural gas processing plant changes the face of the tundra.
Photograph by Steve Raymer, National Geographic
Natural gas drilling rigs dot Wyoming's Jonah Field.
Photograph by Joel Sartore
Vapor leaves vents in nuclear power reactors in Belleville sur Loire, Cher, France.
Photograph by CORBIS
The Trans-Alaska pipeline crosses the tundra in North Slope, Alaska.
Photograph by Steve Raymer, National Geographic
Dust hangs in the sky above an open-pit mine in Alberta, Canada.
Photograph by Peter Essick
A solar array forms part of the Gemasolar Power Plant in Seville, Spain.
Photograph courtesy Geo-Eye
Wind power moves much of the Netherlands.
Photograph by Roberto Delamora, My Shot
Turbines turn wind into power in the Philippines.
Photograph by Melinda Mendez, My Shot
An aerial view shows a wind farm in Palm Springs, California.
Photograph courtesy GeoEye
A hydroelectric dam sits on the Inguri River in Jvari, Georgia, Eastern Europe.
Photograph by David Gogokhia, My Shot

A National Collaboration

The Center for Science is a national collaborative network focused on advancing science and technology, starting with the nation's youth. For Connect! Transform the Future, six of its leading science centers have partnered with National Geographic and GE to educate students about energy, engage them in a conversation about the future of energy, and inspire them to be the next generation of scientists and engineers. The Center for Science includes: Center of Science and Industry (OH), Maryland Science Center (MD), Pacific Science Center (WA), Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (CA), Saint Louis Science Center (MO), and The Museum of Science and Industry (IL).

Dennis Dimick, Executive Editor, National Geographic Magazine
Martin Storksdieck, Ph.D., Director of the Board on Science Education (BOSE), National Research Council (NRC)
Matthew Inman, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, Department of Energy
Dr. Jennifer Milne, Energy Assessment Analyst, Global Climate and Energy Project, Stanford University
Kathleen O’Brien, Ph.D., Manager, Electric Power Systems, GE Global Research

Activities for Grades 4-8

National Geographic Explorers

Dr. Yu-Guo Guo

Energy Data Layers

Guides

Energy Resource Photo Gallery

A National Collaboration

Center for Science

Energy Education Advisory Board for this project

Sponsors