Project Coal to Electricity

Provide teachers a week long field experience to improve their understanding of a variety of environmental and economic issues relating to coal extraction, preparation, transportation, and utilization. Also, to introduce them to actual reclamation, acquaint them with the reclamation of surface mine sites for a variety of post-mining land use options and educate them about reclamation practices. Presentations are directed toward the development of lesson plans encompassing the Standards of Learning for teachers whose responsibilities include Virginia Studies, natural resources in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6, Civics & Economics, or Earth Science. Our program has exceeded the borders of Virginia into surrounding states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina. Due to this expansion, we will re-evaluate the standards of learning to a national base instead of the Virginia base standards.