STEM fields are growing in Louisiana. In fact, STEM jobs in Louisiana are expected to grow 18 percent by 2024. But will businesses find the talent they need among Louisiana students to stay competitive in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? To prepare Louisiana students to succeed in STEM subjects and seek STEM careers, we must equip teachers with the resources, tools, skills and confidence they need to help students excel in the classroom.
Together, Core Element, Schlumberger and American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) are training Louisiana teachers to improve their effectiveness in the classroom and actively engage students through hands-on STEM activities that explore the oil and gas industry.
In 2016, AADE provided support for Core Element to send four local teachers to the Offshore Energy Center in Galveston, Texas. The teachers completed the Project E3 Workshop where they learned how to use the Knowledge Box and Playing with Petroleum Kit – traveling STEM trunks donated by AADE to Core Element to enhance STEM learning across South Louisiana.
With support from Schlumberger, Core Element and the teachers who attended the Project E3 Workshop have been training K-12 teachers across the region to use the content rich kits. Participating teachers receive materials, lessons and experiments covered in The Knowledge Box and Playing with Petroleum kits to teach students about petroleum, environmental sciences, hurricanes, the significance of the oil and gas industry in Louisiana, and much more.
“Through strategic partnerships, Core Element can extend STEM education opportunities to teachers and students across South Louisiana,” said Jan Brenan, executive director of Core Element. “Southeast Louisiana teachers and students identify with the lessons and experiments in The Knowledge Box and Playing with Petroleum kits because the content is relevant to our culture, local communities, and industries that are vital to the regional economy. We are grateful to AADE and Schlumberger for their ongoing partnership and support.”
The Knowledge Box, for students in grades 6-12, showcases the oil and natural gas industry through interactive technology, hands-on activities, posters, and multimedia presentations. The Knowledge Box curriculum is tied to state and national learning standards and helps students to:
- Understand the origin of oil and natural gas
- Discuss the importance of petroleum in our lives
- Evaluate the economic and environmental impact/issue of fossil fuels
- Understand the economic significance of the petroleum industry, and
- Identify everyday objects made from petroleum.
The Playing with Petroleum Kit, for grades K – 5, brings hydrocarbon-based energy education to students in a multi-disciplinary format. Tied to state and national learning standards, the Playing with Petroleum kit has five objectives:
- Describe how sediments are formed and their importance
- Describe how microfossils are important to geologists
- Describe the importance of petroleum in our daily lives and objects made from petroleum
- Identify how petroleum is formed and what organisms become petroleum, and
- Understand the commitment of the oil industry to protect the environment.
“With the state board of education changing the Science standards this year, teachers will need new and fresh ideas to bring into the classroom,” said Kylie Martin, a 7th grade science teacher at Bayou Blue Middle School in Lafourche Parish. “These new standards will place a major focus on STEM education. The Knowledge Box will help teachers bring STEM into classrooms and inspire students to pursue jobs in the science and engineering fields,” added Martin.
With support from Schlumberger, Core Element trained 16 teachers on how to teach the Knowledge Box and Playing with Petroleum lessons during its 2016 Summer STEM Institute. Recently, a comprehensive workshop was hosted for 29 educators in Houma, LA.
Future workshops will be offered through Core Element’s 2017 Summer STEM Institute for teachers, professional development workshops for public and parochial school teachers in Jefferson Parish, and trainings for teachers in the Einstein charter schools in Orleans Parish.
Core Element will bring The Knowledge Box and Play with Petroleum training workshops to organized groups and school systems across South Louisiana. Teachers can also participate in the workshop offered through Core Element’s 2017 Summer STEM institute. The trainings are free to teachers. Learn more and register here.
To learn about upcoming Core Element teacher workshops and trainings, click here.
