Educational Dividends: Press Release: EnergyNet Teacher Uses Energy to Motivate Students

EnergyNet Teacher Uses Energy to Motivate Students
A Project Charged with Real Life Lessons

Champaign, IL. - Many high school students spend the first day of Spring Break relaxing, watching television or going on vacation. Several students from Streamwood High School in Illinois spent the first Saturday of their Spring Break a little differently; they went to a nursing home and spent the day on a school project.

Students from Greg Reiva's chemistry and physics classes performed an energy audit at the Lexington Retirement Home on March 25th. They were looking for opportunities to help the home save money on utility bills. Students learned how to perform energy audits through their involvement with EnergyNet, created and managed by Educational Dividends of Champaign, IL.

Reiva used the retirement home audit as an opportunity to motivate his students to apply themselves and take charge of their learning. And it worked. "All of the students went right to work and acted as professionals. In fact, students were so involved in the audit, the only questions I received were valid technical questions," said Reiva. "The students applied their knowledge from the classroom in a real-world setting. Now, many of them are more motivated in my classroom because of this experience." Reiva, who became a teacher after a career in business, feels this is the way students today need to be taught.

Carol Timms who is President of Educational Dividends says, "Using our insight into the real world needs of business and education, our staff members develop innovative solutions that improve learning for students. However, schools need support to adopt these types of projects because they call for change in their current models of teaching." Reiva says students adapt quickly to this type of project. He says once students understand the scope of EnergyNet, they realize the benefits of self-motivated learning.

Educational Dividends also knows the benefits for students. EnergyNet, the company's model project, has seen six years of successes which are documented in Best Practices- a publication that verifies the exciting improvements that can happen in education. EnergyNet's Best Practices is available to view or download on-line at EnergyNet's web site at http://www.energynet.net/best_practices/index.html. For more on Educational Dividends contact Sharla Sola by calling the toll free number 877-359-9444.

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