Project Profile

M-SOS-W: Middle Schoolers out to Save the World in this project, approximately 600 sixth graders from seven middle schools in Louisiana, Maine, Texas and Vermont are monitoring home energy use under supervision of their (14) teachers. The data are being used to develop optimum scenarios for conserving energy and reducing production of greenhouses gases in local communities. The teachers are receiving professional development to carry out the project. Students and teachers are using online software tools to record and analyze their data and create projections of future energy use based on assumptions of policy changes. They are communicating their results within the project via information communication technology. Research is being conducted on the effects of the project on students' and teachers' changes of attitudes and interests in science, and in students' gains in science content knowledge through comparisons with matched, untreated schools.