The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and several educational nonprofits develop new hydropower curricula and teacher training to help cultivate the next generation of the hydropower workforce.
Water Power Technologies Office
March 9, 2022
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Data Access, Analytics, and Workforce Development
Project Name: STEM and Workforce Development for Hydropower
Project Team: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (lead), the National Energy Education Development Project, and KidWind
Lead Recipient Location: Golden, Colorado
The long-established hydropower industry needs to revitalize its workforce and develop high-demand skills to meet growing U.S. energy demand. In Fiscal Year 2021, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with funding from the Water Power Technologies Office, collaborated with the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project to create a hydropower curriculum that helps primary, elementary, intermediate, and secondary students learn about the water cycle, kinetic energy transformations, and electricity. NEED held an initial workshop to introduce the curricula to educators and will make regular updates based on feedback. The curriculum and other hydropower educational resources are available on NREL’s Hydropower Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) portal.
Also in Fiscal Year 2021, NREL supported KidWind in developing the first hydropower-focused “teach the teacher” training session, which provided an introduction to modern hydropower and sample hydropower learning activities for primary, elementary, intermediate, and secondary educators to implement in their classrooms. The session was part of the 2021 Virtual RECharge Academy, KidWind’s flagship educator training program focused on renewable energy.
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