The Balanced Equation…A New Formula for Classroom Chemistry
There is only one way to ensure future generations can enjoy the Earth in the same way we can: empowering our children to shape the future. And Dow is doing exactly that.
The Keystone Center
In one of its longest educational endeavors, Dow has sponsored The Keystone Center for Education, a non-profit organization focused on science, public policy and education, for more than 20 years.
Dow’s longest educational outreach through this organization is its sponsorship of training workshops for teachers to further their professional education and leadership development. Over the decades, the company has sponsored several hundred middle school teachers from throughout North America to attend the center’s environmental education workshops located in Keystone, Colo. Teachers who attend these workshops are better equipped to teach new approaches and better able to share their experiences and knowledge when they return home.
The Balanced Equation
Dow recently partnered with The Keystone Center to develop “The Balanced Equation,” a high school-level curriculum designed to encourage students to use chemistry to solve global sustainability problems. Specifically, The Balanced Equation focuses on generating sustainable water solutions.
The innovative curriculum uses a combination of techniques, including group discussion, role play and lab activities, to show students how chemistry is relevant to their lives. The combination of teaching methods allows teachers to step away from traditional, segregated content area teaching and focus on the big picture. As a result, students have the freedom to think critically and generate innovative ideas for solving global sustainability issues.
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The Balanced Equation also requires students to think and act like global citizens. The diverse array of people and backgrounds included in the curriculum asks students to consider varying perspectives around the world and encourages them to make decisions that are sustainable for everyone.
“At Dow, we know sustainable chemistry as a catalyst for change,” said Neil Hawkins, Dow vice president, Sustainability, and a board member of The Keystone Center. “Sustainable chemistry is an approach to innovative problem-solving and finding long-term solutions to critical global challenges.”
“If this module can help students understand that, and give students enthusiasm for being part of the solution, then our efforts have been worth it. We hope thousands of students can benefit from this,” he said.
National Science Resources Center (NSRC)
One of Dow’s first and foremost commitments to achieving sustainable chemistry through education is its 18-year sponsorship of the National Science Resources Center’s Hands-On Science Program.
Designed for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, the program seeks to increase students’ interest in the sciences by involving them in scientific experimentation, observation and analysis. Its hands-on modules contain materials for six- to eight-week projects in the fields of botany, geology, biology, physics and chemistry, with the modules’ complexity increasing with grade level.
The program began in 1990 and has spread to 510 schools in Dow communities in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, West Virginia, Connecticut, California, and Ontario and Alberta, Canada. The first Latin American Dow site to implement the program was Cartagena, Colombia, in 2006.
Please visit Dow’s education web site to learn more about our partnerships, see the repository of lesson plans for teachers to use in the classroom, science fair tips, experiments and examples of how Dow products are used in a home environment.
