In a continued partnership with the Washington Department of Ecology’s Green Chemist, Saskia van Bergen and the NCESD’s Regional Science Coordinator, Cari Haug offered a fully asynchronous Canvas Course designed to support teachers in learning about the principles of green chemistry and sustainable design and about the resources available to support students in learning the principles.
Teachers work their way through several modules that allow them to explore resources they can use to teach these principles to their middle school students.
Fifteen educators engaged in the course in January. They watched videos, read articles, reviewed curriculum, did a scavenger hunt, and planned for implementation of their learning in their classrooms. Participants also had an opportunity to discuss their learning with others in the discussion boards. The discussion boards show the excitement of the teachers around their own learning but also their ideas of how and why to bring the principles to their students.
“The ideas behind green chemistry and sustainable design are important because we only have one planet. Some resources will end and that depletion will alter the rest of the environment.”
Giving students the ability to see that their actions can directly affect them, their families, and their future is a responsibility we as teachers and parents need to take on. Setting examples and giving them opportunities to grow and discover new ways to do things is so important!” – Middle School Teacher, Kennewick School District
