Science Teachers

Encouraging interest in science and engineering can begin early in the education process if teachers have the proper training1. Discussed in this paper is an outreach activity for middle school science teachers to provide them with the curriculum materials needed to foster students’ interest in science and engineering. This activity was a workshop focused on alternative energy, which has received much attention recently. Alternative energy sources are not based on fossil fuels; solar, wind, and wave energy are examples of alternative energies. President Bush proposed the Advanced Energy Initiative in his 2006 State of the Union address to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil imports. Two parts of the Advanced Energy Initiative are concerned with solar energy and hydrogen fuel cells. The study of solar energy and hydrogen fuel cells can be facilitated with the fuel cell car kit available from Thames & Kosmos (www.thamesandkosmos.com). This kit contains both a solar panel and a fuel cell. Also included in this kit is an experiment manual containing a number of experiments which can be performed with the solar panel and fuel cell. This manual formed the basis for a number of the hands-on activities performed by the teachers. Each teacher received a fuel cell car kit for participating in the workshop. The car was assembled before the workshop; therefore, workshop time was not devoted to the assembly of the car. The development of th