Release Date: July 28, 2010

DOE Collaboration with National Geographic's JASON Project Yields Three CODiE Awards
Curriculum for Middle School Students Explores Energy Challenges, Solutions

Washington, DC — The JASON Project’s multimedia energy curriculum has earned three CODiE Awards from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Developed with assistance from the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Operation: Infinite Potential explores past, current, and future challenges of energy generation, storage, and consumption.

A pool of educators and technology experts named Operation: Infinite Potential the nation’s Best K-12 Instructional Solution, Best Online Instructional Solution, and Best Education Game or Simulation for 2010. The CODiE Awards are the industry’s sole peer-recognition awards program, designed to celebrate excellence and vision in educational technology, digital content, and software.

The JASON Project, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Geographic, develops multimedia science curricula for 5th – 9th grade classrooms. The curricula are designed to motivate and inspire students to pursue interests and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

To develop each unit, JASON selects a small number of teachers and student "Argonauts" to conduct fieldwork with host researchers. Interactions among teachers, students, and researchers are photographed and videotaped, and become part of the resulting curriculum.

This summer, JASON will release its geology unit, Operation: Tectonic Fury, another JASON/NETL collaboration. JASON and NETL are discussing a third collaboration, on Forces & Motion, to be released in 2011.