One Million Lights recently teamed up with SunPower to bring a different kind of solar illumination to the world.

The two have developed a solar curriculum that offers three one-hour courses introducing kids in Kindergarten through 12th grade to solar energy. The courses explain how solar works and what its benefits are. The program, called One Million Students, launched earlier this year in the San Francisco Bay area.

Students at Egan Junior High School in Los Altos, Calif. were the first to participate. Educators at the school raved about the program, according to a release from One Million Students.

One Million Lights founder Anna Sidana said she saw that young people became incredibly engaged and wanted to be involved with her organization once they understood solar power and what she was doing.

One Million Lights is a nonprofit that distributes solar lights to people who live in poor countries without electricity. The organization’s mission is replace one million dangerous and polluting kerosene lamps with clean and efficient solar lights.

While those students who understand what One Million Solar Lights is doing are incredibly interested and engaged, Sidana said she noticed that a lot of young people don’t understand solar or how it works.

“We want to bring awareness,” she said.

One Million Lights partnered with SunPower to develop a curriculum that can be easily integrated into science and math classes.

She said there is one more unique element to the curriculum.

“The lesson plans are designed so people from the community can take them into their children’s classrooms,” Sidana said.

That allows the teacher a reprieve and it gives the kids a chance to learn about an interesting subject from a different instructor, Sidana said.

The program explains the science behind how and why solar power generation works. Kids get to do experiments and see solar in action.

Image courtesy of One Million Lights