What is Project Genie?
Project Genie is your whole-school solution to teaching Climate Change in primary schools.
More than that, it is an education and empowerment programme, engaging children to ‘take control’ to achieve rapid, meaningful and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Project Genie will thus save money both at school and at home, whilst also saving the Planet.
What makes Project Genie different?
A number of things differentiate ‘Project Genie’ from other offerings. It is:
- Unique: It is focused solely on Climate Change – a mandated part of the National Curriculum.
- High Quality: The science underpinning Genie is of the highest standard, being informed by its core partners – The UK Meteorological Office, and the UCL Environment Institute. Teaching materials have been developed by teachers for teachers.
- Independent: Genie was developed by independent scientists, authors, artists, designers and teachers – many of whom also funded its development. It has received some core ‘blue sky’ support from several companies, but is not owned, governed or directed by any of them in any way. It is non-religious, apolitical, transparent, not-for-profit and honest.
- Supported: Genie has the approval and support of a wide array of individuals, politicians, organisations and companies.
- Validated: Six years in development, Project Genie has been through numerous development cycles, culminating in beta-testing in over 140 UK schools reaching 34,000 children directly. Reductions in electricity use were often above 40%, without significant outlay. Cash savings resulted.
- Project Genie Works: It has been piloted in over 140 UK schools, reaching 24,000 children, and 136,000 people. Electricity use often falls by over 40%.
- Lauded: Genie is popular with both teachers and pupils.
OK. I’m interested. What do I get?
We provide a starter pack of materials which use The Genie in the Bottle story. Along with the story (available in a PDF version), animated film, and lesson plans you will be provided with an informational booklet to help you answer questions you and other teachers might have about climate change.
Your school will receive a comprehensive collection of relevant materials to help children understand climate change and how their actions represent the future of our world.
Exceptional lesson plans written by primary school teachers will be provided and updated regularly. These plans, along with the electricity monitoring device we provide for your school, facilitates fun and interactive cross-curricular based activities for your students to engage with, creating an understanding of what climate change means.
As a teacher, you get a great deal.
- Access to a full set of diverse and varied cross-curricular lesson plans, covering ten core areas of the curriculum for KS2 (KS1 coming soon!). These will be regularly augmented, updated and refreshed.
- A full background science brief for you, produced in association with the UK Meteorological Office, and the UCL Environment Institute.
- Full scientific background text at beginner, intermediate, and ‘advanced’ level for students (and parents!) of all abilities.
- An online PDF of the book ‘The Genie in the Bottle’ for every child to access, written by award-winning children’s author Hugh Montgomery (‘The Voyage of the Arctic Tern’ and ‘Cloudsailors’). This can be provided in printed form, with one copy per child to keep.
- Teaching material including the high quality animated film, custom designed lesson plans, and up to date information on our website.
- Electronic gadgets for children to record energy usage and see the difference their actions make.
- A ‘live science feed’ in which the most recent climate change research is available, written for you and your pupils.
Sounds good. Expensive?
Nope. Project Genie is a social enterprise. We operate as a business but have goals that bring social benefits, like a charity.
We expect the price of having Genie in your school to be small in comparison to the expected reductions in your energy bill.