Teachers learn about oil and gas industry

By Denise Dick | July 28, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

Ohio Oil and Gas Energy education program sponsors workshop

YOUNGSTOWN

Hostess Twinkies, straws, Crisco and Play-Doh aren’t usually associated with science class.

Mahoning Valley teachers learned how those items are applicable, though, if the lesson deals with the oil and gas industry.

About 40 teachers from the Valley and other areas participated Monday in the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program workshop at Youngstown State University. The teachers learn about OOGEEP’s curriculum and perform experiments they can use in the classroom.

Teachers separated into teams and first figured out the best way to execute the demonstrations and experiments before presenting them to their colleagues at the workshop.

The Twinkies and straws – both the straight and bending variety – show the difference between horizontal and vertical drilling.

Boardman Center Middle School teachers June Baker and Jeff Pushkar were among participants.

Baker, who teaches fifth-grade language arts, believes the Twinkie demonstration would be beneficial for students. “They have no background information about how we get oil and natural gas out of the ground,” she said.

But they can relate to everyday items like straws and Twinkies, Baker said.

The straw pushes into the cream-fulled center of the Twinkie and sucks out the filling.

Baker and Pushkar, who teaches math, are part of a four-person team at BCMS.

Although the OOGEEP workshop is geared to science, it has applications across subject areas, she said.

Students can learn about the history of the industry, study what products are made from petroleum, Baker said.

The workshop continues today with a field trips to a gas well, an injection well and a company involved in the industry, said Mark Bruce, OOGEEP’s communication director.

OOGEEP’s curriculum is aligned with state science standards, he said.

Teachers who participate earn continuing education credits and can earn credits from Ashland University by performing the demonstrations and experiments they learned at the workshop in class, said Jeanne Gogolski, a retired teacher who works with the organization.

“They do the experiments in the classroom and tell us how it works,” she said.

That allows OOGEEP to tweak where necessary, Gogolski said.

The organization has been leading teacher workshops since 1998. Each year, there’s one in northeast and one in southern Ohio.

The workshop includes teachers of elementary through high-school students.

Baker, who said this is her third OOGEEP workshop, believes working with people who teach at various levels and from various content areas is beneficial.

“We’re all coming from different backgrounds and different knowledge and experience, but we’re all working together to figure it out,” she said.