OEC Offers STEM-Approved Curriculum for Area Classrooms

Are you a teacher, parent or grandparent who would like to see electricity education taught in the classroom? OEC's Get Charged! handson educational curriculum does just that while meeting state STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) requirements for classrooms and schools.

OEC Education and Outreach Coordinator Tory TedderLoffland has led the classroom program for four years and is gearing up for another year of educating the next generation about the importance and dangers of electricity. “OEC's board of trustees truly values education and sees the importance of offering programs like Get Charged! which promotes the learning of electricity through science experiments,” said Tedder-Loffland. “The kids always have a great time. Plus, the material goes right along with their science curriculum and meets state science education requirements.”

Full curriculums, teacher's guides and kits are available free of charge for first through fifth grades if Tedder-Loffland is not able to be physically present in the classroom. The kit includes videos, projects and experiments focused on the components of electricity. "As part of the most popular experiment, the students learn about circuits, conductors and insulators, and draw a schematic of the circuit they are tasked with constructing, which powers a small light bulb," said Tedder-Loffland. "Later, that circuit operates a telegraph the students use to communicate using Morse Code."

Get Charged! includes more than just electricity education. It also involves learning a little history. “No matter where I go, they think it’s so cool experiencing what was once a revolutionary form of communication,” said Tedder-Loffland.

Contact Tory Tedder-Loffland, 217-6726 or tory@okcoop. org, for more information and visit www.okcoop.org/youth to explore all the programs offered to youth in OEC’s service area and to reserve a Get Charged! kit for your classroom.

Get Charged! is part of OEC's youth development initiative, L.E.A.R.N.: Leading, Educating, Advancing and Rewarding the Next generation. L.E.A.R.N. encompasses the catalog of youth programs OEC offers to students, teachers and schools in our service area.