Teachers are overworked, underpaid, underappreciated and yet, enthusiastic and devoted to providing our children with the best education to prepare them for their future.  As leaders in an immerging industry that will be fundamental to society at sometime in the future, we should accept the responsibility for helping teachers introduce hydrogen energy as a classroom topic.  To better accomplish this, we must first look at the roadblocks to the introduction of hydrogen to the mainstream classroom. Then we will have suggestions to help overcome those roadblocks so that alternative energy in general and hydrogen energy specifically can make its way into today's classrooms.  Below is a brief outline of the topics that will be covered in this session.

Roadblocks

1.      No time

2.      Teacher Education

3.      Requires expensive specialized equipment

Suggestions

            1. Fuel Cell topics are nothing new --  part of current topics and required standards

a.                   chemistry

b.                  physics

c.                   earth science

d.                  technology

2.      Provide training

a.       conferences for novice educators

b.      tap into university pre-teacher training programs

c.       Provide grade-appropriate curricula

d.      teacher training via competitions

e.       Develop a speaker's list to teach classes/teachers

3.      Provide affordable equipment – and/or funding

a.       Classroom fuel cells do not have to be high performance

b.      Provide turn-key products – include everything

c.       Help find sponsorship of new programs

d.      Promote shared equipment – multi grade levels and classes

4.      Be education leaders

a.       Fuel cell companies should adopt local schools for fuel cell education

b.      Find ways to reward teachers

c.       Provide easy access to information

            Info sections on websites

            Published lessons available on-line for free download