Posted: 19 Sep 2009 01:46 PM PDT
BERKELEY, CA — If so-called “green collar” jobs will lead California out of its economic downturn, students at two East Bay high schools will be well prepared to ride the wave. Thanks to legislation sponsored by State Senator Loni Hancock, some of them will be the first graduates of “Green Academies,” three-year programs in high schools around the state to prepare students for the green economy.
Berkeley Lab, led by its Center for Science and Engineering Education (CSEE), is partnering with Oakland Technical High School and El Cerrito High School in their Green Academies. Beginning this fall, students and their teachers will be able to take lab tours, hear talks by Berkeley Lab scientists and engineers and eventually, some will have eight-week summer internships in an actual laboratory.
“What students and teachers will gain is an experience with real research in a variety of green science and engineering fields,” said CSEE director Susan Brady. “They will struggle with ambiguities, failures and frustrations. In most traditional classrooms, you don’t get that—the lab experiments are set up to succeed. They’re cookbook labs where you walk through a procedure, and it will work because it’s been done seven million times and we know it works. We want students to understand that real science is complex and exciting – and that these areas of research are relevant to their lives.”
The program is funded by the California Partnership Academy through the California Department of Education. High schools can apply for $42,000 in funding for the first academic year, and the amount goes up subsequently as the number of students enrolled increases. The funding allows for up to 60 Green Academies around the state.
Berkeley Lab, led by its Center for Science and Engineering Education (CSEE), is partnering with Oakland Technical High School and El Cerrito High School in their Green Academies. Beginning this fall, students and their teachers will be able to take lab tours, hear talks by Berkeley Lab scientists and engineers and eventually, some will have eight-week summer internships in an actual laboratory.
“What students and teachers will gain is an experience with real research in a variety of green science and engineering fields,” said CSEE director Susan Brady. “They will struggle with ambiguities, failures and frustrations. In most traditional classrooms, you don’t get that—the lab experiments are set up to succeed. They’re cookbook labs where you walk through a procedure, and it will work because it’s been done seven million times and we know it works. We want students to understand that real science is complex and exciting – and that these areas of research are relevant to their lives.”
The program is funded by the California Partnership Academy through the California Department of Education. High schools can apply for $42,000 in funding for the first academic year, and the amount goes up subsequently as the number of students enrolled increases. The funding allows for up to 60 Green Academies around the state.
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