Switch Classroom is a trusted source for non-partisan, data-driven, teacher-created energy lessons and activities. In fact, 98% of our users find the information provided by Switch Classroom to be very trustworthy. Through this blog, we will share teaching strategies and tips for using Classroom from our Teacher Advisory Council, as well as insights from energy and education experts. For further information or to provide feedback, please contact us at classroom.support@switchon.org.
I teach both AP Environmental Science and Earth/Environmental Science in a coastal North Carolina school district. Many of the students that attend Topsail High School are innately drawn to the outdoors and spend most of their time on our nearby beaches. Despite our community being one that has a vested interest in protecting our environment,…
I teach AP Environmental Science in a small town in Indiana. Our high school is about 900 students in grades 9-12 and we offer several AP courses. I teach AP Environmental and several other courses. I have used the Project/Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum from Lucas Education for the last 9 years. The AP approved…
One of the biggest challenges that any teacher can face is getting students to settle down and focus at the beginning of class. One way to address this is through the use of bell ringer activities. A bell ringer activity could consist of a question, small activity, or a problem that is displayed on the…
I teach 7th and 8th grade science at Avalon K-12 on Catalina Island, the only rural school in the Long Beach Unified School District. I use a district-provided curriculum in my classes which covers energy, but I wanted students to learn about how we consume energy on a larger scale so they could grasp the…
Happy New Year, from Switch Energy Alliance! We hope that you were able to take some time over the winter holidays to rest and recharge. 2021 was a year full of challenges, especially for teachers and students. Some went back to school in-person for the first time in a year, some continued to teach or…
The holiday season is in full swing and for many that means keeping family activities and events organized. My family usually comes to my house on Christmas day but this year we are planning to celebrate at my parents’ home. Traveling to put up a tree for them, I realized that I had forgotten the…
Switch Energy Alliance took our Classroom show on the road to the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) regional conference in National Harbor, Maryland over the weekend of November 11-13. TAC Chair Lynn Kistler, SEA Manager of Operations Sarah Jane Todd, and I teamed up to present Switch Classroom quickstart guides, videos, and activities to the teachers in attendance. It…
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, …to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving…” President Abraham Lincoln, October 1863 It’s early November and the weather here in the northeast has finally turned cooler after an unusually warm fall season….
When I started teaching AP Environmental Science, I had to learn how to teach about electricity. My background was in the biological sciences, and it had been too long since my high school or college classes for me to recall the minutiae of this information. A quick online search led me to Switch Energy Alliance (SEA) videos,…
To “go green,” we must “go honest” so that we can address and solve the real energy challenges before us. – Dr. Scott Tinker How will developing countries source the energy they need? How can we increase energy efficiency? Where will we get the raw materials for solar and wind development? Can we have “clean…