What’s funded by our energy grants, and what’s not?
Classroom Energy Innovation GrantsTM fund creative classroom teaching ideas that focus on energy or energy efficiency. We encourage teachers from all subject areas to challenge students about energy and its impact on our future. Teach kindergarteners about who created the light bulb and the difference between the first one and Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs we now use. Learn about climate change in high school statistics class. Help science students to understand the importance of fuel diversity. Heck, depict energy in the art room.
The opportunities are endless.
What’s been funded in the past?
Here are a few examples of past recipients:
Illegal Trash Dumping: A middle school teacher wanted to (1) raise students’ awareness on issues surrounding illegal dumping of trash such as health hazards; (2) to educate students on the different products that are recyclable; and (3) to teach students about the proper disposal of trash Read the report.
Computer Efficiency: An elementary teacher and his students set about studying how to limit the amount of energy consumed by computers in the classroom while not limiting the effectiveness of these machines. As a result, these students would be better equipped to advocate for similar changes in energy consumption outside of the classroom.
Green Classroom: A high school teacher planned to create and landscape a “green” classroom to study how much energy could be conserved by teaching outside. This team effort positively affected students in agriculture mechanics, horticulture and wildlife classes.
What’s not funded?
The following types of requests are not eligible for funding:
Teacher training or salaries. Requests for teacher certifications, training, or for salaries fall beyond our funding guidelines. This includes stipends for substitute teachers.
Before- or after-school programs. The intent of Classroom Energy Innovation Grants is to support teachers and their students during core school hours, not for extracurricular activities
Prepackaged curriculum. Classroom Energy Innovation Grants are centered on the principle of ingenuity. Funding requests that are largely comprised of prepackaged curriculum or pre-developed software lack the thread of innovation we promote.
Equipment requests not associated with a creative teaching idea. We often receive questions about equipment, such as, “Do you fund computers?” The answer is, “it depends.” As you can see from the examples we have provided, Classroom Energy Innovation Grants certainly have provided equipment through guitars, computers, cameras, scales, etc. What all of these winning grants have in common is that the grant was centered on an idea that came alive instead of on equipment or aids that failed to spur on this idea.
Field trip funding requests exceeding 25 percent of the total amount requested. We recognize that school travel budgets have shrunk over the years. A grant request can include up to 25 percent of the total amount requested for travel. Keep in mind, the request must be centered on an idea, not on a field trip. In other words, the field trip should be one of several methods used to supplement the teaching idea.
One-time events. Classroom Energy Innovation Grants are designed and developed for classroom application. Though we have funded projects that may have culminated in a poetry reading, school play or garden harvest, we will not fund requests for special events only.