Going Beyond the Classroom: Weather + Science = Energy Efficiency in School Communities

Educators have found that integrating school-based weather information is helpful in teaching STEM curriculum. Can weather also be leveraged to teach students about climate change science? This presentation will show how one teacher and students from one school, the Medford Middle School in New Jersey, did just this.

These students learned how changing weather variables impacts energy use in the home, and as part of their Citizen Science Education Program (CSEP), extended this learning into a community service project to drive energy efficiency awareness and participation with the WeatherBug Home program. Students utilized various types of creative media including videos they produced to communicate their message within the community, which then culminated in a visit to their utility (PSG&E) to present their program and to encourage the utility to participate to help drive the program throughout their territory for community energy efficiency savings. Medford Middle School went on to win the 2013-2014 Rutgers Teen Climate Summit award for their work on this project. An overview will be given on how Medford Middle School utilizes its WeatherBug weather station to integrate weather in the classroom, as well as an overview of the CSEP energy efficiency project and Rutgers Teen Climate Summit with WeatherBug Home.