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Utah FORGE is a Department of Energy-funded geothermal research project dedicated to advancing enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) technologies and committed to increasing overall geothermal understanding.

Bring the Power of Geothermal Energy to Your Classroom!

Class Visits

Utah FORGE offers engaging classroom visits to help students learn about geothermal energy and its incredible benefits. We welcome the opportunity to teach students of all ages through an in-depth, hands-on learning approach. During our visits, students have the chance to actively participate, allowing them to immerse themselves in the concepts of geothermal energy and gain a practical understanding of this sustainable resource. Our team brings the excitement of renewable energy directly to the classroom, making it a memorable learning experience for everyone involved.

To schedule a classroom visit or learn more, click the button below and complete the form.

Request a Visit

Engaging Instruction

Students are captivated as geothermal energy concepts are brought to life with a hands-on lesson.

Hands-On Activities

Students dive into interactive activities that make learning about geothermal energy fun and memorable.

Interactive Technology

Students eagerly engage with thermal imaging technology, discovering how heat signatures reveal unseen aspects of geothermal energy.

Core Exploration

A young student examines a core sample from geothermal drilling, exploring the earth’s layers and the science beneath the surface.

Lesson Plans

Dedicated to informing and educating of teachers, students, and the public about geothermal energy, we have partnered with our colleagues at the University of Utah College of Education to create a curriculum that can be used in K-12 classrooms. The following lessons plans and student handouts were developed by Tamara Young.

Cover of a teacher handout titled ‘Building a Device That Converts Energy From One Form to Another to Solve a Problem,’ featuring a grayscale photo of a water wheel splashing as it turns. Includes Utah FORGE and University of Utah College of Education logos.

Utah SEEd Standard PHYS.2.4, Next Generation Science Standard: HS-PS3-3

Cover of a teacher handout titled ‘Transfer of Thermal Energy,’ featuring a grayscale photo of a geothermal landscape with steam rising from vents. Includes Utah FORGE and University of Utah College of Education logos.

Utah SEEd Standard PHYS.2.2, Next Generation Science Standard: HS-PS3-4

Cover of a teacher handout titled ‘Design a Method to Change the Rate of Heat Transfer,’ featuring a grayscale photo of a person ironing fabric with steam rising. Includes Utah FORGE and University of Utah College of Education logos.

Utah SEEd Standard 6.2.4,
Next Generation Science Standard: MS-PS3-3

Cover of a Utah FORGE teachers handout titled ‘Explaining the Uneven Distribution of the Earth’s Natural Resources,’ featuring a geometric gold, brown, and white layout with a marble-like mineral texture image, a stylized ‘U’ icon, and logos for the University of Utah College of Education and Utah FORGE, aligned to Utah SEEd Standard 8.4.1 and NGSS MS-ESS3-1 for 6th-grade science.

Utah SEEd Standard 8.4.1,
Next Generation Science Standard: MS-ESS3-1

$$$ Design your own lesson plan and win $$$

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Lyrical Learning

Fun Geothermal Puzzles

Welcome to the geothermal Rhyme quiz – a rhyming experience to test yours and your students’ geothermal vocabulary.

Rhymewit was developed by Tom McFadden (8th grade science teacher & founder of Science With Tom) who has been combining music, video, and education for over a decade.

Try the Rhyme Quiz Now

Learning Modules

The University of Utah’s Department of Chemical Engineering has developed various hands-on learning modules that can be easily replicated in the classroom. Designed and created by Dr. Tony Butterfield and his outreach team, the modules display key scientific principles behind the Utah FORGE project. These hands-on teaching modules help explain scientific concepts and include detailed instructions for K-12 educators, along with curricular ties, and assessment tools.

STEM Fest demonstration of thermoelectric human power.

Thermoelectric Human Power

The temperature difference between human hands and cold water or ice is used to create electricity and demonstrate the use of a temperature difference to extract usable energy.  View Module

Turbine Electric Generator

As a turbine is made to spin, be it from flowing steam in a coal or geothermal power plant, or from wind turning a wind turbine, it generates electricity for our homes and businesses. In this module, you will use the power of your lungs to turn a turbine and create electricity.  View Module

And More!

Browse a collection of teaching modules tailored for both undergraduate and K12 STEM education, created by the Chemical Engineering Lab

Other Resources

Geoscience Webinars

The geoscience of Utah FORGE sets the geological scene to DOE’s flagship geothermal field laboratory that has been established to make significant advances in EGS technologies. The webinars cover the basin architecture, rock types, fault/fracture patterns, thermal structure, fluid flow, geochemistry, and the datasets and resources that are available from the Utah FORGE website.

In addition to advanced geoscience topics, Utah FORGE offers webinars designed for K-12 audiences, introducing key principles of geothermal energy in an engaging and accessible way. These sessions explore the visible surface features of geothermal systems, the fundamentals of heat transfer, and how geothermal energy harnesses the Earth’s internal heat. Each webinar provides foundational knowledge, helping students understand the science behind geothermal energy and its role in sustainable power generation.

Advanced Webinars Playlist

K12 Webinars

Surface Features of Geothermal Energy
Heat Transfer
The Heat Beneath Our Feet

Animations

Enhanced Geothermal Reservoir

Geothermal Binary Cycle Plant

Geothermal Flash Plant

Geothermal Glossary

District heating - A scheme for distributing centrally produced thermal energy via a network of pipes to heat residential and commercial buildings. Such schemes are energy efficient and ideally suited for utilizing geothermal resources.
PDC bit - A drill bit used for drilling rock in oil, gas and geothermal wells. PDC stands for polycrystalline diamond compacts, which are inserted as cutters in substitute of hardened metal teeth typical of roller cone bits.
Steam-heated water - A shallow formed water resulting from condensation of steam into groundwater accompanied by absorption of carbon dioxide to form a bicarbonate water or by absorption of H2S that oxidizes to sulfate to produce an acid-sulfate water.
Heat Exchanger - A system by which heat is transferred from one media (solid or fluid) to another with applications in heating and cooling. They are used in geothermal binary power plants and cooling towers.
Chlorite - A micaceous mineral that is commonly green-colored, composed of iron and/or magnesium, and forms due to hydrothermal alteration of amphiboles, pyroxenes, and feldspars.
Breccia - Angular to sub-angular fragments of broken rock that are cemented together that are highly permeable and form on the surface due to sedimentary or igneous processes or in fault zones.
Hydrothermal Eruption - Rare explosive discharge of hot water and steam that is powerful enough to excavate a crater and lift rock fragments and its pulverized equivalents into the air to produce an apron deposit around the eruption vent.
Geochemical Tracer - An environmentally benign chemical that is injected to trace fluid movement through the geothermal reservoir and that can be easily detected in produced hot fluid.
Stable Isotopes - Refers to non-radioactive isotopes of elements, including those of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen. In geothermal geochemistry, the stable isotope ratios of oxygen (18O/16O) and hydrogen (2H/1H) in thermal waters are used to trace its origin (e.g., meteoric, magmatic).
Tephra - Airborne particles of rock and ash produced by an explosive volcanic eruption. Tephra commonly deposits as a blanket that drapes over the underlying topography.
Lava Flow - A product of an erupting volcanic cone or fissure made up of liquid molten rock that flows downhill and eventually solidifies due to cooling.
Transcurrent Fault (Strike-Slip Fault) - Vertically dipping fault that results from horizontal shear stress. Slip movement during an earthquake is sideways rather than up or down.
Normal Fault - Refers to a steeply dipping planar fault in which the upper block slides downward relative to the lower block. Such fault movement is characteristic of extension and extensional tectonic regimes like the Basin and Range province of the western USA.
View All Terms