MEEP can visit your classroom for free!
To schedule a visit, please contact us with the following information:
- Number of students, number of classes and their grade level
- Activities you would like us to do - see below
- Time of year you would like us to come - it is most helpful if you have a few dates in mind that work for you
- Your typical daily schedule - how long can we spend with your students?
Classroom Activities
Focused on energy sources, energy conservation, alternative modes of transportation, and outdoor air quality, MEEP's repertoire of activities are fun, dynamic, and interdisciplinary, plus they can be easily modified to meet the needs of your curriculum and your students. All activities are aligned to the Maine Learning Results. Here is a full list of energy activities. Select a topic to jump to related classroom activities.
Energy & the Environment
- Electricity & the Environment (4th to 12th grade): Students become aware of electricity in our awareness session. They make electricity from an apple in the Apple Battery experiment and then learn how electricity is made in the real world. Next, with MEEP's PV Fan and Mini-Wind Turbine activities, they make electricity from renewable resources. These activities can be combined with the Great Energy Debate and Energy Jeopardy in a full-day workshop.
- Skills Session (4th to 12th grade): Students learn skills that most adults don't even possess in MEEP's skills building session. Do you know how to read an electric meter, an electric nameplate, or a light meter? These very important skills can help you save money.
- Great Energy Debate Game (4th to 12th grade): What are the pros and cons of renewable versus nonrenewable resources? Do you have any preconceptions as to which energy sources is the best? In this debate, students take on the real world challenge of convincing others that one energy source is the best.
- Global Energy Game (5th to 12th grade): Welcome to the island of Argyle! This fictitious island is about the size of Maine and due to growing health and environmental problems, the voting population has decided to move away from fossil fuels and onto cleaner energies. Participants will experience first hand the challenges adults face in the real world when trying to balance the three E's: Energy, Environment, and Economy.
- Energy Jeopardy (4th to 12th grade): Modeled after the T.V. show, this great evaluation tool has students choosing point values and categories in "Fossil Fuels", "Renewables", and "Electricity".
- KidWind (5th to 12th grade): Students design and construct wind turbine blades and test them out to see how much electricity they can make. For more information, visit KidWind.org.
- My Light (1st to 3rd grade): Students experience the book My Light by Molly Bang and then put together mini wind turbines and PV Fans.
Maine Green Schools Activities
- School Energy Efficiency Investigation (8th-12th grade): Students use tools to see how their school uses energy and where energy is wasted. They can then make recommendations on how energy can be conserved in their school. This project can be combined with the Greenhouse Gas Surveys being offered by Maine DEP. A Home Energy Efficiency toolkit is also available.
- Energy Patrol (4th to 8th grade): Are lights left on when they are not being used? The energy patrol tours the school and rewards the classroom that does the best job saving electricity with a week's care of a toy armadillo, an emerging symbol for climate change.
- Vending Mi$er Challenge (7th to 12th grade): In this real world, hands on experiment, students will use their data in proving the energy saving costs from installing a Vending Miser on cold drink machines. If students present their findings to school officials, MEEP will donate a Vending Mi$er to your school!
- Clean Air Zone Project (6th to 12th grade): For small groups wishing to form Clean Air Zone teams, support is offered in the form of consultation and outreach materials.
Climate Change
- Climate Change 101 (5th to 12th grade): Three activities introduce the students to climate change, carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect.
- Climate Change 201 (6th to 12th grade): Features the Climate Time Machine, which shows students how climatologists study climates of the past.
- Climate Change 301 (8th to 12th grade): Offers the HOBO Energy Experiment, a Carbon Footprint activity and an engaging slideshow about climate change in Maine.
- Climate Change 401 (9th to 12th grade): A slideshow that examines the effects of climate change in New England and culminates in a discussion about action solutions.
- Climate Change 501 (9th to 12th grade): Features the Maine Plant Watch Research Project which allows students to study climate change by observing plants, birds and spring peepers. By tracking their appearance in the spring, students can gain a greater understanding of seasonal changes and our climate in Maine. This is a springtime program.
Transportation & the Environment
- Alternative Fuels (6th to 12th grade): This classroom activity offers an overview of a variety of alternative transportation fuels including biofuels, hydrogen, hybrid technology, etc. Includes a hydrogen fuel cell demonstration.
- Alternative Fuels Debate (6th to 12th grade): Modeled after our Great Energy Debate, students will argue the pros and cons of various transportation fuels.
- Clean Air Zone Workshop (4th to 12th grade): This awareness session focuses on how transportation choices and automobile idling affect air quality and human health. Activities include Gallery Walk, Peak Flow Meter, Community Mapping, Clean Air Game, etc.
- Teen Driver Car Maintenance 101 (9th to 12th grade): The real environmental and monetary cost of cars is often hidden and one does not realize how much it actually costs to drive a care until it is too late. MEEP is offering this session to high school classes throughout Maine in hopes to help students realize the true costs of owning or driving a car.
- Transportation & the Environment Jeopardy (7th to 12th grade): Like Energy Jeopardy, this capstone activity will have students choosing clues and answering questions in the same format of the T.V. show.