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HEY TEACHERS

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Welcome Getting Around ForEST Q & A, short version ForEST Q & A, longer version How to Contribute

Welcome!
Welcome to ForEST, your online source for energy information. ForEST addresses questions such as:

• What is energy?
• What forms does energy take?
• How can energy be converted among different forms, and with what efficiency?
• How can energy be stored and transported?
• What are energy resources, and how are these resources and their usage distributed worldwide?

Getting Around - Tree Structure
Most of the content of ForEST is contained in short leaf articles. These in turn are organized into branch articles that are mainly ordered lists of leaf articles. Finally, one trunk article collects the branch articles. The trunk article is a good place to start exploring the material available in ForEST.

ForEST Q & A, short version (think Monty Python)

Q: WHAT... is your name?
A: ForEST (for' Ist) n. Acronym for "For Energy Science and Technology" web site published by CPAST.

Q: WHAT... is your quest?
A: To encourage high school students to study subjects and to pursue careers that could lead to advances in energy science and technology.

Q: WHAT... do you do to pursue your quest?
A: We publish relevant and interesting material that teachers use in their lesson plans.

Q: WHAT... do I do to view this material?
A: Click on the gold links at the top of your screen.

...And (you knew it was coming):
Q: WHAT... is your favorite color?
A: Blue. No, green! Aaaaaaaa...

ForEST Q & A, longer and possibly less silly version

Q: What material is available from each of the gold links at the top of my screen?
A:

Link	Description
Home	The splendiferous page you're presently viewing.
E*Transmogrifier	A super-duper energy converting "machine" that lists possible ways of converting energy between specified input and output forms.
E*Bank	Another super-duper "machine" that lists ways of storing a specified form of energy.
E*Mover	Yet another S-D"M"(*) that lists ways of transporting a specified form of energy.
Trunks	Outlines of other ForEST articles, a good place to start. For now there's a single CPAST-written outline. Later there may be others, such as ones for use with particular high school science classes.
Articles	Find and read articles. Write articles. Suggest articles you'd like to see in ForEST.
ForESTer	Become a registered ForESTer (necessary to write or review articles and to submit references.) Update your registration info. Find other ForESTers and view info about them. Find articles or article reviews written by you or another ForESTer.
References	Search for and view ForEST references. Add your own favorite energy-related references. Review ForEST references.
Feedback	Send your comments about ForEST to CPAST. (Thanks!)

(*) Acronym for the benefit of readers engaged in government service.

Q: Who publishes ForEST?
A: CPAST, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the scientific and technical education of high school students and the general public. More information about CPAST is available.

Q: What advantages does ForEST have over textbooks?
A: Unlike a textbook, ForEST is:

• Free
• Always available
• Continually updated in response to reader feedback
• Composed of animations as well as text, tables and charts
• Searchable by keyword

Q: Who contributes the material published in ForEST?
A: People like YOU! (Please see the section below on how to contribute.)

Q: How do I know the material published in ForEST is reliable?
A: In the ultimate analysis, you must rely on your own judgment. (Please share your judgment with the community in an article review.) CPAST reviews each article before publishing it, and does not knowingly publish false information. Once published, articles are reviewed by people like you; you can read these reviews to assess community opinion of an article's quality.

Q: May I use ForEST materials in my own publication (including web sites)?
A: If you're using an entire article on your website, CPAST prefers that you simply link to the ForEST site. However, for non-commercial, nonprofit educational publications you may excerpt material as you would from any other source, consistent with academic fair use. You must include proper attribution to ForEST. For commercial publications (any publication, including websites, that is not nonprofit educational) you must contact CPAST and obtain express permission from the article's author(s) before using any materials from ForEST.

Q: Who pays for this?
A: ForEST is supported by grants from private foundations and contributions from people like you.

How to Contribute

First, a smidgen of philosophy:

A central idea of ForEST is that we are all teachers, and we are all students. When we find an unfamiliar topic that interests us we seek a teacher. The flip side of this is that when we are familiar with a topic we should seek students. Few of us have the time, energy or desire to be full-time teachers. (More power to those of us who do and who are!) However, we do have time to occasionally share some of our knowledge with an interested audience. By analogy with the stone soup story when each of us contributes a small part of our knowledge, together we can build a great encyclopedia for use by students (ourselves, after all).

This idea that we all greatly benefit when each of us shares his knowledge is central to the World Wide Web. The web makes it very easy for individuals to share information, and this has been a major reason for its phenomenal growth. However, as any chef can tell you, a recipe for soup or anything else is more than just a bunch of ingredients. Information must be organized to be useful. Search engines such as DejaNews and Google and directories like Yahoo are indispensable in navigating the web. But if you have ever compared learning about a topic from the web with learning about the same topic from a well-written textbook, you will undoubtedly have come away with a new appreciation for textbooks! The care with which the book's author(s) introduce, develop and relate concepts results in a faster as well as richer and altogether more enjoyable learning experience. And most textbooks don't include flashing advertisements.

ForEST's goal is to assemble articles contributed from many individuals into a framework that approaches the coherence of a textbook. Unlike a textbook, however, ForEST is:

• Free
• Always available
• Continually updated in response to reader feedback
• Composed of animations as well as text, tables and charts
• Searchable by keyword

Now, the nitty-gritty:

Here are some specific ways you can help ForEST:

• Register
  Introduce yourself to the other teachers and students reading and contributing to ForEST. Tell the rest of us what topics interest you. Add a picture of yourself or of something you find interesting.
  
  
• Write an article
  Have you been researching a particular energy-related topic? Write a ForEST article about it and share what you've learned!
  • Show current list of articles for which authors are needed
  • Suggest a topic on which you'd like to write an article
  
  
• Write an article review
  Did you like a particular part of an article? Were you confused by another part? Do you have suggestions for improving the article? Tell the author! Follow the Review this article link at the top of the article and let your voice be heard.
  
  
• Contribute a reference
  Do you have a favorite energy- or science-related web page? Did you see an interesting energy-related article in the newspaper? Tell other ForESTers about these and other references you come across.
  
  
• Write a reference review
  Rate that web site you just entered. Give your opinion of a newspaper article somebody else entered. Follow the link at the end of the reference record.
  
  
• Send money
  All work on ForEST is done by volunteers, but it costs money to keep our Internet connection and to purchase hardware and software to run this site. No donation is too small, every bit helps! CPAST is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so donations are tax deductible.
  
  There are two ways to donate:
  
  
  1. Send donation online
     
     
  2. Send donation in the mail to:
     CPAST
     1280 Harvard Rd
     Berkley, MI 48072-1979
     
     
• Purchase products or services from sponsoring businesses
  
  • BicycleR Evolution. If you're in the market for a lightweight trailer to pull behind your bicycle, check out the The Bike Trailer from BicycleR Evolution. You can reach them at (800) 357-2773 or at bsi@rio.com, as well as the above web address. Tell them that you were referred by CPAST, and they'll forward us a referral check for any purchase you make.