- Marcellus Group Develops Middle School Curriculum
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Jodi Weigand, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
A jobs curriculum funded by the Marcellus shale industry could be in Western Pennsylvania middle schools as early as fall.
Four Marcellus shale drilling companies donated most of the $65,000 that the nonprofit Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania spent to research and develop its new Careers in Energy program, said Bill Lucas, JA's chief development officer.
The Energy Corporation of America Foundation, the grant arm of the Denver gas and oil well drilling company, donated $25,000, the largest amount. Other money came from Cabot Oil & Gas, Talisman Energy, Chesapeake Energy and the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a Cecil-based trade group.
"We all realized that no matter what side of the fence you're on, these jobs are here, and if we don't educate our kids about them, we're doing them a disservice," Lucas said.
Marcellus shale gas drilling has been touted as an economic boon for the area. But concerns abound about the impact that the drilling, which uses millions of gallons of water to extract the natural gas, could have on land, water and air.
Junior Achievement assembled an 18-person committee of representatives from the drilling industry, environmental groups and local and state governments to review the final version of the curriculum to ensure it is balanced, Lucas said.
"The one thing we wanted to make sure was that this was going to be completely unbiased," he said. "From an educational point of view, schools wouldn't let us teach it if it wasn't."
Nathan Sooy, a campaign coordinator for Clean Water Action of Pennsylvania, which opposes Marcellus shale drilling, is wary.
"If the industry is going to exist in Pennsylvania, it's going to need to, and probably should, make its way into the vocational school curriculum," he said. "I think the appropriateness of it being in the curriculum depends on what that looks like."
Junior Achievement needs about $35,000 to complete the rollout of the curriculum to about 11,000 middle school students. Marcellus shale gas drilling-related jobs will be among the many the energy industry offers, Lucas said.
Industry-funded curriculum is not unusual for Junior Achievement, which teaches more than 61,000 K-12 students in Western Pennsylvania about work force readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through hands-on programs. It relies on business representatives, parents and other volunteers to teach the lessons.
JA's in-school and after-school programs are free to schools. Locally, Pittsburgh Public Schools and numerous Catholic schools partner with JA.
Careers in Energy is one of two industry-funded educational initiatives in the region. The other is a traveling energy education exhibit funded by the Drake Well Museum, in Titusville, which touts the benefits of oil and gas drilling.
Outside the industry, teachers, an independent nonprofit environmental group, state agencies and the Pennsylvania College of Technology have completed or are working on lessons about Marcellus shale.
What's pushing the effort, said Jeannette Carter, director of outreach for K-12 education at Penn College, which is part of Penn State University, is the desire to impart background knowledge about Marcellus shale like many people have about the steel industry.
"We're ... not understanding the occupations, science and geology of Pennsylvania," she said. "We don't have the knowledge we need to make fact-based decisions about the industry."
Penn College is working with vocational technical teachers to incorporate into existing lessons the skills students might need if they choose a career in Marcellus shale gas drilling. It's also working to include additional lessons in chemistry or geology to touch on things specific to Marcellus shale.
The challenge is keeping the lesson fact-based.
Teachers can pose questions like, "What do we know? What does the research show? What do people think? And then ask students to take a position and support it," Carter said.
The Pennsylvania Geological Survey, overseen by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, recently released a fact-based lesson plan for middle and high school students about the natural-gas-rich rock formation that includes the history of drilling and how it works.
The state Department of Environmental Protection plans to develop its own lesson plan that schools and communities can use detailing the more controversial aspects of water contamination and other environmental issues, a spokeswoman said.
The Junior Achievement program will teach younger students about the science of energy, where it comes from and the pros and cons of both renewable and non-renewable forms, Lucas said. For older students, it will focus on the economic and job side of the industry.
The program takes an approach similar to that of the Drake Well Museum's Mobile Energy Educational Training Unit. The museum, which is located where Edwin Drake drilled the oil well that launched the petroleum industry, is seeking a more substantial place in public education.
Right now the unit travels to fairs, community meetings and vocational technical schools, but project manager Joe Hulsizer said the museum wants to winterize the 44-foot trailer so it can travel during the school year.
The trailer has three sections, with the first focusing on oil well drilling, the second showing artifacts from the Drake museum and the third covering all forms of energy sources, including Marcellus shale.
"There are so many people who don't understand what's involved with all the products we use every day," Hulsizer said. "We wanted to educate the kids because it's going to be up to them to create new forms of energy."
Chartiers Valley Middle School English teacher Lisa Schultz is one local teacher who has taught students about Marcellus shale drilling.
She asked her students to create impartial websites presenting the facts, pros and cons of drilling. She directed them to sources such as the Penn State Cooperative Extension for information.
"I guess I did a good job (of being impartial) because I'm opposed to it in Allegheny County, and most of the students were in favor of it," she said.
Copyright (c) 2011, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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