Dow Innovation Teacher Fellowship alumni and retired chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Andrew Liveris speak to community about the importance of innovation in science education
The fellowship, which supports developing sustainability-focused classroom units, is a partnership between SOE’s CEDER, Dow Chemical Company Foundation, and Delta College.
As industry, technology, and society evolve, teachers are adapting their approach to teaching about sustainability, reports the Midland Daily News. On November 30, community leaders and teachers convened at Delta College in Midland Center to hear from a panel of Dow Innovation Teacher Fellowship alumni about how their experience as fellows has impacted their teaching.
The fellowship, which is a partnership between Dow Chemical Company Foundation, the University of Michigan School of Education's Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER), and Delta College, supports K-12 teachers with designing and implementing sustainability-focused units through project-based approaches and field trips.
Retired chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Andrew Liveris delivered a keynote address about shifts in the global economy and technology, and why community response to global issues is so important.
Educators Phil Schwedler, Kari Keith, and Jessica Marcet spoke about the units they planned for their students as Dow Innovation Teacher Fellows. Schwedler, an eighth grade social studies teacher at Freeland Middle School, created a unit that focused on land use and the impacts of industrialization in Saginaw County. Keith, who teaches sixth grade science at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw Township South, created a unit on water quality focused in the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. Marcet, who teaches grades 8-12 at New Lothrop Jr./Sr. High School, developed a unit focused on plastic waste and recycling for her math students.
“I do not think I was in a rut,” Keith told the Midland Daily News, “but (the program) made teaching a little more exciting again.”