2010 Electricity Education Tour

2010 Electricity Education Tour Summary Report

2010 Electricity Education Tour

Summary Report

Edmonton, Alberta April 22 - 24, 2010

with support from

TM

Courtney Hughes BSc, BEd, MEdBoreal Education Coordinator


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Table of ContentsI. Overview 2

II. Program 3

III. Partnershipandsupport 4

IV. Futures 5

AppendixA-Programparticipants 6

AppendixB-Detailedprogram 7

AppendixC–Testimonials 9

AppendixD–ParticipantSurveyResults 10


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Inside Education’s 2010 Electricity Education Tour aimed to increase awareness and to provide Alberta’s teachers with a greater un-

derstanding of electricity in Alberta. Twenty-two teachers (Appendix A) from across the province, representing both French and English

classrooms from grades one to twelve took part. Discussions, tours and activities were used to expose participants to multiple views on

Alberta’s electricity production, transmission, use and conservation.

Provincial, regional and local industries, organizations and government were represented in this program including, Government of Alberta,

Alberta Electric System Operator, ATCO Electric, AltaLink and the Canadian Centre for Energy Information. Ensuring a multitude of per-

spectives was represented, the program was intended to give teachers a balanced picture of “Alberta’s Electricity Story”.

Before getting out to experience things first hand, participants reviewed the basics of electricity and received an overview from Alberta

Energy on the challenges and issues related to electricity in Alberta. With this background information setting the stage, it was on the bus

to a tour of TransAlta’s Keephills generating facility and a bus tour of the adjacent mine area. This engaging tour provided teachers a rare

glimpse at the inner workings of a coal-fired power plant and mine.

Inside Education professional development programming strives to always keep in mind the needs of the teacher, even while ‘showing and

telling’ so many detailed issues. As we continued to help teachers along the ‘electron path’ we held a discussion on Alberta’s important,

complex transmission system from the people in charge – the Alberta Electric System Operator. To help with this, our tour took the oppor-

tunity to be the first teacher-group to tour ATCO’s new Energy Education Mobile. We also had an opportunity to discuss electrical safety at

ATCO’s High Power Training centre where we learned just how much power really is flowing through those overhead lines.

The traveling portion of our tour concluded with a discussion of personal action and conservation. Visiting Edmonton’s Belgravia Net-Zero

house enabled teachers to see the sorts of conservation activities that they, and potentially their student can strive towards as we all in-

vestigate the means to lower our own carbon footprint.

We understand that teachers are anxious to take advantage of the energy education opportunities available to them in Alberta. A workshop

was held from both GreenLearning and Inside Education, walking teachers through some of the best, most relevant electicity education

programs available to them and their colleagues within their school and school districts. We challenge the teachers to ‘spread the word’,

and share the experience and opportunities beyond the walls of their own classroom. Ultimately it will be the thousands of Alberta young

people who will benefit from their teacher’s dedication to learning about electricity in Alberta.

Alberta educators often face logistical and financial challenges to accessing high quality professional development opportunities. The

contacts, resources, and networking opportunities provided by Inside Education at no cost to educators are invaluable toward furthering

young Albertan’s understanding of Alberta’s natural resource and energy sectors in Alberta’s youth.

I. Overview


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This three-day program held in Edmonton allowed the participants to follow the path of electricity through Alberta. This was

accomplished through a progression of presentations and tours starting with the topic of electricity generation, followed by

its transmission, use and conservation. During the program, participants were engaged in informative discussions with pre-

senters and visited locations rarely seen by education professionals, thus enhancing their educational experience. A detailed

program can be found in Appendix B, and Table 1 below provides a general program overview.

Inside Education’s programs end on the final day with a discussion and demonstration on how to incorporate and apply the in-

formation learned during the education tour to the classroom. Ultimately the program aim was to help Alberta students, become

more informed about the topic of electricity in the province, allowing them to become better consumers, stewards and citizens.

II. Program

Table 1: 2010 Electricity Education Tour Agenda

April 22WelcomeandIntroduction

Steve McIsaac, Inside Education

Electricity101

Bob Rose, APEGGA

ElectricityinAlberta–anOverview

Kathryn Wood, Alberta Energy

Coal-ThermalPowerGenerationProcess–

TourKeepHillsFacility

Ralph Leriger, TransAlta

April 23ElectricityTransmissioninAlberta-Overview

Shan Bhattacharya, Alberta Electric System Operator

Energy,GenerationandClimate-Overview


RespectingElectricity

Mark Davis and Al Houle, ATCO Electric

EnergyEducationMobile-Tour

Susan Belyea and Duncan Marks, ATCO EnergySense

ElectricityChoices–NetZeroTour

Peter Amerongen, Amerongen Habitat Studio & Workshop Ltd

April 24ElectricityEducation-GreenLearning

Kathy Worobec, GreenLearning

ResourceWorkshop



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Participants were made aware of partner organizations throughout the program and specifically during: the introduction, in

the participant package, and during closing discussions.

In addition to the support of the expert presenters and hosts noted on the previous page, a special thank you goes to the

following organizations for their financial support in making this program possible:

III. Partnership & Support


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The participants of the Electricity Education Tour were very pleased with the exposure, information and understanding they

gained from taking part in this program on “Alberta’s Electricity Story”. Please refer to the comments and data summarized

in Appendix C and D.

Inside Education is proud of the success of our Education Tours and programs. In gauging the need for topical, pertinent and

easily accessible natural resource and energy education programs and services in Alberta, we have identified a continuing

desire in educators, partners and presenters to support programming that takes a deeper look at these topics. Inside Educa-

tion will continue to offer programming in these areas to enable teachers to better provide relevant and current information to

thousands of Alberta’s youth.

IV. Futures


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Program Particpants

Sandy AdamsonHigh Park School Stony Plain

Susan Allen WR Frose School Fawcett

David BernierÉcole Francophone Publique du Nord-Est de CalgaryCalgary

Vanessa BjorgeSt. Thomas Aquinas CatholicHigh SchoolSpruce Grove

Barb BrilzEcole Bishop Savaryn Catholic Elementary SchoolEdmonton

Glenda BronCalvin Christian SchoolCoalhurst

Roger ChanIrvine SchoolIrvine

Jesse ClarkeDr. Bernard Brosseau SchoolBonnyville

David CookBev Facey Community HighSherwood Park

Alison GardnerOyen Public SchoolOyen

Jennifer GreerSt. Joseph Catholic High SchoolGrande Prairie

Shauna HayLake Bonavista SchoolCalgary

Miriam HickMother Teresa SchoolSylvan Lake

Trish HunterBalmoral Middle SchoolCalgary

Marcy JohnstonEcole Broxton ParkSpruce Grove

Claude LangloisÉcole Bishop Pinkham SchoolCalgary

Gary MeekinsOyen Public SchoolOyen

Jennifer PoonHigh ParkStony Plain

Diane PysykVernon Barford Junior HighEdmonton

Chris SudykWoodbridge Farms SchoolSherwood Park

Sharon ThiessenKillarney SchoolCalgary

Nicole Tom HueteSt. Josephs Catholic High SchoolGrande Prairie

Cory WhalenPrairie River Jr. High SchoolHigh Prairie

Appendix A


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Detailed ProgramAppendix B

Thursday, April 22

Welcome/IntroductiontoElectricityEducationTour

A meet and greet where all participants had the opportunity to meet

one another and participate in an introduction to Inside Education

and the Education Tour itself.

Presenter: Steve McIsaac, Inside Education

Electricity101

Bob Rose, a retired professional engineer, having worked for ATCO

and volunteering for APEGGA, presented about circuits, watts,

volts, atoms, electrons and anything to do with electricity! Through

a presentation and demonstration, teachers investigated the topic of

electricity and were provided with information and experiments they

took back to the classroom.

Presenter: Bob Rose, APEGGA

ElectricityinAlberta–anOverview

This presentation was an overview of electricity and electric restruc-

turing in Alberta. An overview on how markets work, how electric-

ity price is set along with highlights of recent policy and ongoing

initiatives including carbon capture and storage, greening energy,

electricity transmission issues and others.

Presenter: Kathryn Wood, Alberta Energy

Coal-ThermalPowerGenerationProcess

A trip to Keephills Generating facility at Wabamun Lake showed

what is involved in mining coal, how is coal used to generate elec-

tricity and how electricity is transmitted throughout the province. We

explored the processes involved that make it so our lights come on

when you flick the switch. In this session, TransAlta identified some

of the technological challenges the industry face in responding to

market and social interests. An introduction to carbon capture and

storage, super-critical, and ‘clean coal’ technologies being devel-

oped at Keephills III was also addressed.

Host: Ralph Leriger, TransAlta


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Friday, April 23

ElectricityTransmissioninAlberta-Overview

We examined Alberta’s electric system from securing the energy

source, to generation, transmission and distribution to users.

Shan described some of the key challenges that his organization

faces in ensuring that Alberta’s electricity needs are met, now

and into the future.

Presenter: Shan Bhattacharya, Alberta Electric System Operator

Energy,GenerationandClimate101–AnOverview

An introduction and broad look at the various forms of Energy

production in Alberta and the connection to climate.

Presenter: Steve McIsaac, Inside Education

TourtheEnergyEducationMobile

Our group was one of the first to see this unique learning experience

that will travel to Alberta schools and communities. This resource

aligns with the Grade 4 Science and Social Studies curriculum and

is designed to encourage inquiry-based learning and critical think-

ing. Students participate in fun interactive activities that combine

individual learning with group discussions.

Hosts: Susan Belyea and Duncan Marks, ATCO EnergySense

ElectricityChoices-NetZeroTour

With a combined presentation and tour, teachers investigated per-

sonal action approaches for conservation. Edmonton’s Belgravia

NetZero House was featured as a case study and we were lead on a

tour of the house and it’s energy saving features.

Presenter: Peter Amerongen, Amerongen Habitat Studio &

Workshop Ltd

Saturday, April 24

ElectricityEducation-GreenLearning

Modeling activities in The Pembina Institute’s Greenlearning.ca

site, this session had participants learn about and compete activi-

ties and resources available to them from Green Learning to use

in the classroom.

Presenter: Kathy Worobec, GreenLearning

InsideEducation–EducationSession&SummaryEvaluation

This session is devoted to showing the teachers what resources

are available for the classroom to teach about electricity. This time

also reviewed what they learned during the program and how to

take this information and put things together in a format that could

be used in their classrooms, schools and school districts.

Presenters: Steve McIsaac, Inside Education


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TestimonialsAppendix C

“What a fantastic three days of P.D. you have linked so many gaps and misunderstandings I had about energy and electricity in a very efficient

and effective manner. Due to having a limited background on science and electricity, I now feel that I will have more of appreciation for what

we have as well as an increased passion for this topic that I can now share with my students. I can’t wait to get back to my classroom on

Monday and tell them what I did and be able to share with them the whole electricity process. You made it come alive and it was just great.

Overall, just thank you for such a great experience. I will only have good things to say about Inside Education.”

Alison Oyen (Gardner), Oyen Public School, Oyen

“You certainly have met and exceeded my expectations Knowing all the facts about the production, transportation and distribution of electric-

ity will be very useful when discussing energy and electricity topics with my students and coworkers. Thank you so much for empowering

teachers to do a better job in the classroom.”

Miriam Hick, Mother Teresa School, Sylvan Lake

“It was very informative learning about the new environmental controls being installed into the V3 coal plant. Of all the P.D. programs I’ve

been on, this has by far been the most interesting and useful to my classroom.”

Jesse Clarke, Dr. Bernard Brosseau School, Bonnyville

“It is a wonderful informative program. Now, when I teach this topic, I have a much better knowledge of the generation of electricity, energy

to conservation. This will make it easier to convey knowledge to the students.”

Gary Meekins, Oyen Public School, Oyen

“I have a new perspective on how electricity in Alberta works and I can’t wait to teach my students using real-life examples and hands-on

learning beginning Monday morning.“

Vanessa Bjorge, St. Thomas Aquinas

Catholic High School, Spruce Grove

“As one of my students said, “I always wanted to know how we get electricity from coal.” I can now go back and share how coal is used

in the production of electricity. What I learned will help me more clearly educate students about electricity.“

Sharon Thiessen, Killarney School, Calgary


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Participant Survey ResultsAppendix D

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Conservation Use Transmission Generation

This education experience increased my undersatanding of electricity...

How many students do you expect to share your experience with in the next year?

Strongly Agree

Somewhat Agree

Somewhat Disagree

Strongly Disgree

Strongly Agree

Somewhat Agree

Somewhat Disagree

Strongly Disgree

I would recommend this experience to my colleagues.

100%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

0-25 26-50 51-75 76-100 101-150 151-200 200+


Courtney Hughes BSc, BEd, MEdBoreal Education Coordinator

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2010 Electricity Education Tour

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