W. R. Grace & Co. announced today that it is sponsoring eight teachers from six schools to attend The Keystone Center's Key Issues Institute: Bringing Environmental Issues to the Classroom.
COLUMBIA, Md. — W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) announced today that it is sponsoring eight teachers from six schools to attend The Keystone Center's Key Issues Institute: Bringing Environmental Issues to the Classroom. The sponsorships enable educators from the following schools to attend the teacher development institute on June 20-26, July 11-17 or July 25-31 in Colorado:
-- Lisa Fiore & Donna Spencer, Joe Walker Middle School; Quartz Hill, CA
-- Joe Conroy, Pond Road Middle School; Robbinsville, NJ
-- Anne Lane & Gwendolyn Pozdena, Ottoson Middle School; Arlington, MA
-- Sharon Dennis, Hinsdale Middle/High School; Hinsdale, NH
-- Chris Fritz, Rhinebeck High School; Rhinebeck, NY
-- Suzanne Wilmoth, Episcopal Collegiate School; Little Rock, AR
Key Issues Institute is a national teacher-training workshop that provides middle-level educators with the skills and confidence to investigate environmental issues in a non-biased manner with their students. Within the context of a scientific investigation, teachers spend a week in classroom lessons as well as field activities exploring the environmental aspects of a simulated issue. To augment their classroom implementation, participants receive the simulated curriculum, instructional materials, computer software programs, lab kits and online support with educators and instructors.
Grace has sponsored teachers through The Keystone Center since 1997. Grace provides the financial support that allows teachers selected by The Keystone Center to attend the program during the summer months when schools are out-of-session. The teachers are chosen from a select field of applicants located across the country.
"The teachers that come to the training bring a cadre of experiences and issues relevant to their communities," said Dan Schroder, Key Issues Program Director at The Keystone Center.
Teachers use the Key Issues Framework, which meets National Education Standards in a variety of disciplines, to develop and implement new classroom plans in their schools that focus on a local environmental issue. Past session participants have addressed diverse issues, including water quality, wetlands and solid waste management in their respective communities.
About The Keystone Center: Keystone Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1975 to ensure that present and future generations approach environmental and scientific dilemmas and disagreements creatively and proactively. The Keystone Center's mission is to equip citizens with deliberative frameworks, democratic processes, analytical information, and critical-thinking skills to navigate tough problems and develop solutions. Through its two major programs, The Keystone Center for Science and Public Policy and the Center for Education, The Keystone Center improves decisions about long-term issues by helping thought-leaders, teachers, students, and decision-makers effectively address technically complex and politically uncertain situations. Since Key Issues Institutes piloted in 1992, the generous support of foundations and corporations, including Grace has enabled more than 2,000 middle level educators to enhance the decision-making skills of their students. For more information, visit www.keystone.org.
Grace is a supplier of catalysts and other products and services to petroleum refiners; catalysts for the manufacture of plastics; silica-based engineered and specialty materials for a wide-range of industrial applications; specialty chemicals, additives and materials for commercial and residential construction; and can sealants and coatings for food packaging. With annual sales of more than $2.2 billion, Grace has over 6,500 employees in nearly 40 countries.
Source: Business Wire
