Earthshot Goes to School

K-12 STEAM education

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Earthshot has deep, multi-decade expertise in the clean tech and electrification arena. Its CEO previously worked in the Clinton Administration Office of Science and Technology Policy, was a senior RAND fellow in energy and cleantech, directed the USC Energy program and has advised cleantech startups. Its chair is a long-standing (30+ year) advisor to EPA on climate, clean energy, EV and market strategies who has also represented electric utilities, EV manufacturers and EV nonprofit organizations on the electrification of the energy and transportation system. Earthshot principals have worked with high schools over the past two years to build a pilot interactive program to introduce high school and college students to these transformative technologies.

Earthshot Goes to School is an 8-module interactive high school program that introduces students to electric transportation, the modern electric grid and related digital information technologies. The program dovetails with Earthshot's 8-issue adventure comic book series, Supercharged!, which profiles an electric vehicle (Ruby) and presents a story-linked EV tech talk in each issue. The program will offer students a simulated job interview and orientation as well as exercises to debate EV challenges and opportunities and to build their own EV. A short (4.5 minute) introductory video teaser of this program, which includes a subject matter list of each module, can be viewed on our website at www.earthshot.us by using the password "GoingtoSchool" where prompted. As indicated in the module list, our program will help prepare high school and college students for job and other opportunities within the rapidly-transforming energy, transportation and digital information marketplaces. In addition to introducing students to the new energy and transportation technologies and systems, our program will help students consider the potential effect of new digital information tools (e.g., artificial intelligence) and robotics on institutions, jobs and job opportunities.

Los Angeles County already is rapidly undergoing an energy and transportation transformation to address air quality, climate and economic imperatives. Students must be ready to compete in this new job marketplace. The Earthshot Goes to School modular program will be immediately accessible to any school or job program that wishes to use it because it will be web-accessible and downloadable. Because it is modular in design, teachers may use the modules as their time permits, either piecemeal or as an integrated program. Also, by linking the interactive video teaching modules with the entertaining comic book series, we increase the degree of student interest and engagement. Both the teaching modules and the associated comic book issues are scheduled for completion by the end of the October 2025 period. We will work public and private high schools to prepare for the release of this program in LA County. Early school visits have confirmed strong student and teacher interest.