NEED Teacher Training Workshop for the Walmart Foundation Solar Schools in Washington DC
On November 19, 2011, the Walmart Foundation sponsored a training workshop in Washington D.C. for teachers from Washington schools that received solar photovoltaic systems from the Walmart Foundation Solar Schools Project. The National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) of Manassas, Virginia, conducted the workshop, held at John Burroughs Education Campus, an elementary school on Monroe Street NE, and one of the four D.C. solar schools. These workshops are conducted for schools and school districts who have received the Walmart Foundation funded solar installations
The workshop started at 8:30 AM and lasted until 3:30 PM.NEED provides printed materials, curriculum-by- age group, and classroom hands-on materials for students. The workshop participants worked with the sets of hands-on materials as part of their training experience.
Gardening
In Washington DC, the schools that received grants for 5 kW PV installations from the Walmart Foundation were:
- John Burroughs Education Campus Elementary School
- Brent Elementary School
- Anne Beers Elementary School
- Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School
This workshop is the third in a series of Walmart Foundation funded solar workshops. Over thirty teachers participated, with some coming from several other nearby school districts. These teachers join their colleagues in Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles to be part of over 250 educators receiving classroom curriculum and hands-on solar kits for their schools.
Solar Panels
NEED was honored to have two great facilitators for the workshop. Both DaNel Hogan and Matthew Inman have been recognized this year as U.S. Department of Energy Einstein Distinguished Educators. They also serve as advisors to the U.S. Department of Energy. Both DaNel and Matthew are fun and engaging facilitators and NEED is honored to have them on the team. Capital Sun Group, Ltd., installed the four systems. President Carlo La Porta briefed work shop participants on how they can monitor and capture data on the amount of solar energy the school systems deliver via an internet connection. This data is available on the internet for all of the Walmart Foundation funded schools . He gave the teachers a tour of the solar array on the roof and the inverter and Webbox interconnection device.
Special thanks for the success of the program goes to Eupert Braithwaite whose leadership helped navigate the project through D.C. Public School System channels. The District of Columbia was a challenging location because three of the schools are historic buildings or in a historic zone and the National Fine Arts Commission had to review the design plans.
If you would like to find out more information or to see the data from any or all of these schools, you can find them at solorschools.org:
If you would like to learn more about NEED and their teacher training programs, including a calendar of upcoming workshops, you can visit need.org