Do you teach third, fourth, or fifth grade? Would you like for your students to learn about electricity and electrical safety? We can help.
Austin Energy provides teachers, students, and their families with the opportunity to explore ways to efficiently use energy with the Austin Energy All-Stars Program.
In this program, 6th-grade students learn about the exciting world of electricity, as well as valuable ways to save energy and money at home. Austin Energy provides an in-class curriculum for teachers, and interactive take-home kits full of energy-efficient products for students and their families— all at no cost. This program supports Texas (TEKS) Academic State Standards.
Austin Energy provides experienced presenters to visit third, fourth, and fifth grade classes to teach them about electricity. Sessions are one-hour each and are available at no cost to schools within the Austin Energy electric service area.
Power Town — This presentation is designed to teach children basic electrical safety concepts using a model of a town. The model is complete with miniature homes, people, vehicles, recreational areas, and real, low-level electrical currents that demonstrate potential hazards. Small figurines are shocked to demonstrate the results of unsafe electrical practices. This engaging and safe demonstration is conducted using safety gear and equipment and includes a 20-minute video called “The Shocking Truth” to help students understand how electricity works and how it can be dangerous if not used safely.
Lightning Lab — Lightning Lab is a fun and interactive classroom presentation for all ages where students learn the basic science behind electricity. The learning is then reinforced as the students take part in high voltage experiments and demonstrations. Participants will be able to perform amazing feats such as making their hair stand on end, levitating small objects, creating lightning, running lights and motors without wires and much more.
Light Up Austin — This presentation includes hands-on activities that promote critical thinking by using a scaled model city to demonstrate how electricity is generated and how it gets to your home. Children participate in this activity by taking on roles of Austin Energy employees who are restoring power to a small town after an outage.
The following information will help you plan your request for classroom presentations.
A minimum of two classroom presentations per school per visit is required.
A teacher must be present during the entirety of all presentations.
Please schedule each presentation for one full hour starting no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Allow at least 5-10 minutes between classes.
We recommend that no more than 25-30 students attend each presentation to allow for optimal interaction and learning.
Materials are limited, so we cannot double-up on classes.
Presenters are available for a maximum of five hours per day.
You may schedule two consecutive days if needed, with afternoon presentation(s) on the first day and morning presentation(s) the second day.
The presentation must be set up in one room through which students will rotate.
The presentation is loud so please choose a location that will not disrupt others.
Please complete and submit our online form to request classroom presentations at your school. An Austin Energy representative will contact you to verify details and finalize the schedule.
Please email your questions to Austin Energy School Outreach or call 512-972-9532.