Education Newsletter October 2026

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We’ll come to YOU!

Schedule a visit from Ohio Natural Energy Institute and we’ll customize a full STEM-based presentation according to your students’ needs! 

We gladly visit: 

• During or after school

• Individual classrooms

• Multiple classrooms or grade levels

• Department or program-wide groups

• Career fairs, STEM nights, and other special events
  

Presentations include: a customized slide deck, hands-on activities, real-life fossils, and drill bits.

Put us on your calendar before it fills up!

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Featured resource: Build a model oil well

Your students can model the process of extracting crude oil using simple classroom materials in our STEM Unit 4.2 activity! 

This hands-on engineering challenge lets students discover how producers extract oil after geoscientists locate promising rock formations. 

Using containers, straws, sand, gravel, clay, and vegetable oil, students will learn about:

• How rocks store oil in tiny spaces between particles

• Why oil gets trapped beneath certain rock layers

• How well design affects oil recovery rates

• What makes oil flow naturally to the surface

• Testing and improving designs to solve problems
  

The activity makes abstract concepts concrete as students create their own working oil well models. By measuring and comparing extraction results, they'll understand the real-world science behind oil production that powers Ohio communities. 

Access this lesson today to teach engineering concepts through real-world contexts! 

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Exploring natural energy in schools

During the Skyhawk Summit Career Fair at Fairborn High School, we discussed careers in natural energy. Students were intrigued to learn how much goes into powering our state! Check out our playlist of careers videos to learn more about hands-on careers in the natural gas and oil industry

Middle school students find it amazing to learn about Ohio’s natural resources and all the products created from them. Ohio-made energy is essential! Share the many products made possible through natural resources with your classroom.

Where does the money for scholarships come from? Well some of it comes from hard work! We pitched in at the OGS Golf Outing and brought in over $500 for the scholarship fund! Look for the scholarship application to open in 2027.

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Powering Ohio careers

The natural gas and oil industry supports 351,000 jobs in Ohio. That’s THREE TIMES the capacity of the Ohio stadium! Your classroom powers the future of Ohio’s energy. 

Every job in the natural gas and oil industry generates about 3.9 additional jobs in our state.  

Plus, the average salary of natural gas and oil industry jobs in Ohio is 65% higher than in other states. 

There are plenty of Geology careers in the natural gas and oil industry. Share this YouTube playlist with your students to teach them that science careers in Ohio rock! 

Connect with Ohio geologists: Teachers can join the Ohio Geological Society ($20). Students join free.

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