APS-PALO VERDE ENERGY KITS DESCRIPTION (002).PDF

Maricopa County — Formal (2023-06-28)

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APS-Palo Verde Energy Kits for STEM- Creative Resource Center 
 
 
 
 
 
4041 N. Central Avenue, Ste. 1200, Phoenix, AZ 85012   •   Phone 602-506-3866   •   Fax 602-506-3753 
schoolsup.org          Twitter: @mcschoolsup          Facebook: mcschoolsup 
 
A focus of the Office of Maricopa County School Superintendent (MCSS) is to strengthen teacher voice, 
increase respect for the education profession, and create resources that expand the capacity of teachers, 
administrators, and support staff.  Maricopa County is home to ~765,585 K-12 students, 58 district 
schools, ~45,996 teachers, 134 Private Schools and ~400 charter schools. The MCSS office provides 
several STEM resources including an Industry Professional-Education matching platform to connect 
professionals with classrooms (Educator PRO Connect) and a STEM-Creative Resource Center.   
 
The STEM-Creative Resource Center equips teachers with the opportunity to collaborate and collect free 
resources to provide creative, hands-on STEM learning, and challenge-solve-it kits. The center features 
resources such as lighting, electronics, cameras, and household goods donated by local companies that 
are free to teachers for classroom purposes. Thousands of teachers during the school year attend an 
orientation session about the Center and discuss instructional strategies to utilize the center resources in 
their classrooms such as taking products apart to investigate how they work, use for a creative intended 
purpose, or re-design for a new classroom purpose.  See News: 2019- Amazon partners to provide 
resources for STEM Resource Center 
 
Summary of STEM-Creative Resource Center with APS-Palo Verde Energy Kits 
 
The MCSS Office welcomes the opportunity to feature APS-Palo Verde resources for teachers and 
students in our STEM-Creative Resource Center through Energy Challenge Kits. 
We envision a dedicated APS-Palo Verde area within the SCR Center for teachers to learn and explore 
lesson strategies to learn about energy, transfer of energy and ultimately nuclear energy. Teachers can 
check-out APS-Palo Verde Classroom Challenge Kits to implement lessons with their classrooms. Teachers 
will mail back to the MCSS office the Kits in a self-addressed soft packet. MCSS estimates the cost of 
the Energy Challenge Kits to be $4,213.14  See example below: 
 
 
 
Objective: 
 
The APS-Palo Verde Energy Challenge Kit will empower hundreds of K12 educators to provide high-
quality STEAM instruction to thousands of students in Maricopa County (i.e., 200 educators X 60 students 
= 12,000 students). 
 
Activities:  
 
Students will be guided through 3 main activities to discover the Big Ideas in Energy: 
• Activity 1 – Students will work in small groups to use the provided materials to build a propeller 
car to discover What is Energy?

APS-Palo Verde Energy Kits STEM-Creative Resource Center 
December 8, 2021 
Page 2 
 
 
• Activity 2 – Students will progress through different stations to learn about the Types of Energy 
and Energy Conversions. 
• Activity 3 – Teachers will create an event using Educator Pro Connect to invite a professional from 
APS-Palo Verde to discuss the importance of knowing these Big Ideas in Energy at the nuclear 
power plant.  
 
 
1. Create a dedicated APS-Palo Verde space at the Maricopa County School Superintendent’s 
Office STEM Creative Resource Center.  Space to provide poster and logo representing APS-Palo 
Verde. 
2. Create instructional modules for the Energy Kits and provide teacher training lessons at the Center 
for teachers to replicate the lessons with their students. Provide a QRCode video lesson to 
accompany the training. 
3. Advertise the APS-Palo Verde space to the 45,000 teachers in Maricopa County through social 
media and newsletters. 
4. Provide access to all teachers attending the STEM-Creative Resource Center an opportunity to 
check-out the APS-Palo Verde Challenge Kits for their classrooms. 
5. Develop a process with APS-Palo Verde to re-supply Kit Resources, if needed.  Launch with 18 
Kits for first year (spring, 2022). 
6. Provide a QRCode in the Challenge Kits to a video about APS-Palo Verde future careers. Share 
how the Kits correspond to careers at Palo Verde (critical thinking, problem-solving, coding, 
engineering process).  *APS-Palo Verde Supply at a future date 
7. Provide APS-Palo Verde updates and pictures of students and teachers using the Energy 
Challenge Kits. 
 
 Benefits: 
 
 
1. Equip K-12 educators with the skills to successfully implement lessons for energy tied to teacher 
standards, leading to career pathways in STEAM. 
2. Significantly increase the number of teachers and students in Maricopa County that have access to 
resources with hands-on instruction and student experiences that use critical thinking and problem-
solving to develop student STEAM identity.  
3. Awareness of APS-Palo Verde in K-12 schools: administrators, teachers, and students. A partner in 
educating our future workforce within Maricopa County. 
4. Awareness of APS-Palo Verde future Careers for students and skills associated with future 
careers.