Training future green chemists starts in K-12 classrooms and labs, where the foundational principles of green chemistry are introduced. This early exposure fosters safer learning environments and inspires students to think sustainably about the world around them. Beyond Benign is proud to work with educators to make green chemistry an integral part of chemistry education, and we are continuously impressed by the educators who train and prepare their fellow science teachers to bring green chemistry into their classrooms and labs.
We caught up with three educators who are helping pave the way for a greener future — Cassidy Javner, Erin Mayer, and Annette Sebuyira. This summer, these Beyond Benign Certified Lead Teachers are teaching professional development courses for middle school and high school science teachers at various levels of green chemistry engagement.
Below, Cassidy, Erin, and Annette share their green chemistry backgrounds, what drives their passion for teaching green chemistry, and the value of participating in a professional development course.
Tell us a little bit about you and your background in green chemistry education.
Cassidy Javner: I am a high school chemistry teacher in Minnesota, and I have been teaching chemistry at all levels (General, Honors, and AP) for 11 years. I got connected to green chemistry education through the University of Minnesota Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program in 2016. As a part of the program, I took Beyond Benign’s online course, “Introduction to Green Chemistry in the High School Classroom,” and haven’t looked back since. Now I am a Beyond Benign Certified Lead Teacher and I am teaching the same online course! I have been a part of several American Chemical Society’s Journal of Chemical Education publications about developing and implementing green chemistry with my students. In addition, each summer, I help run a summer workshop on Green Chemistry for High School Teachers in Minnesota. In 2018, our team from the University of Minnesota was awarded the ACS Committee on Environmental Improvement Award for Incorporating Sustainability into Chemistry. I have enjoyed sharing my green chemistry experiences with my students and other educators throughout Minnesota.
Erin Mayer: I teach young scientists at Casey Middle School in Boulder, Colorado. For over 20 years, I’ve helped create safe learning spaces where students can explore and understand the natural world. I challenge them to think critically, ask questions, and find solutions. My goal is to inspire them to tackle local and global issues, making the world a better place. In 2020, I discovered green chemistry through a Beyond Benign online course. Green chemistry is about solving problems in sustainable and eco-friendly ways. This fits perfectly with my aim to empower students to use their scientific knowledge to address real-world problems. To achieve this, I’ve developed various activities, including waste audits, studying handwashing during COVID-19, making eco-friendly products, and incorporating microscale chemistry into our middle school curriculum. These experiences not only teach and emphasize green chemistry principles but also foster innovation and problem-solving skills in my students.
Annette Sebuyira: I have been affiliated with green chemistry since 2013. I first became aware of the practice of green chemistry when I attended a summer training program for teachers at Siena College in New York, run with Beyond Benign. We practiced several labs, where “green chemistry” was a new term to me. They used safer materials. They used household products. They did not use the concentrated nitrates that I was used to using in the lab room, and I was hooked. When I went back to my school that fall, I worked toward reducing hazards by using less toxic materials. If I couldn’t find a replacement, I changed the lab to a micro-scale lab. I wrote to the DEC and asked if they had more resources. They connected me to the Beyond Benign crew, and I reached out to them and said this was something I was looking for, but I didn’t know what it was called, and I really wanted to be immersed in it. That was the beginning.
What can you tell us about your experience teaching Beyond Benign’s professional development courses? How long have you been teaching these courses, and why is this valuable?
Cassidy: During my time as a Lead Teacher at Beyond Benign, I had the opportunity to lead professional development at conferences and workshops throughout the country. This will be my third year teaching the “Introduction to Green Chemistry in the High School Classroom” online course. I find it really valuable to share my green chemistry knowledge and also to learn from the participants at the workshops and courses. I always leave Beyond Benign’s professional development experiences with a plethora of ideas and activities that I want to try in my classroom. Teaching the course renews my own passion for green chemistry and ignites my creativity as a scientist and educator.
Erin: I have facilitated the Beyond Benign “Sustainable Science: Contextualizing Chemistry Through Safer Hands-On Labs” online course for the last two years. The Sustainable Science course provides participants with an overview of the Green Chemistry Principles, introduces participants to the wealth of green chemistry resources available through the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC), and incorporates multiple opportunities to consider how to introduce student learners to the principles as well as how to incorporate the principles into the general classroom setting.
Annette: This will be my second year teaching the “Advanced Green Chemistry: Connections to Our World” summer course. When I went through the course [initially designed by Tanya Elmer], imagining myself as a student, I found myself interested in the materials. It had units, such as designing a lab, introducing toxicology to teachers, and embracing or examining a green chemistry Presidential Award winner project that was going on. It tied in academia, industry, and economics. And I thought, “This is a wonderful course.”
How have you seen attendees grow from the beginning of a professional development course to the end?
Cassidy: Many attendees start the course with little to no green chemistry experience or many attendees have inherited a set of very traditional labs. Throughout the course, participants learn ways to reduce hazards in their laboratory and make their activities safe for their students and the environment. Further, participants are able to explore all of the ways that green chemistry can empower their students with the knowledge and skills to become environmentally conscious individuals in their communities and create a more sustainable future.
Erin: I have worked with educators at different stages of familiarity with green chemistry, from beginners to those already integrating it into their teaching. Upon completion of the course, most participants express feeling inspired and eager to incorporate green chemistry principles and practices into their learning spaces.
Annette: What I look forward to is getting feedback at the end of the academic year from the teachers who created their lesson plans and unit plans and seeing how teachers implemented and how the plans went. I saw teachers grow from saying, “I can’t implement this in my school unless you tell me what to do, and you have to give me the material, and I need the resources from you,” to turning around and being the ones providing their resources and having so many ideas. It is really nice to see that they have internalized it and they’re owning it. And they’re so invested that they even reach out to me now. I like to see their view just expanding right in front of your eyes!
Can you share a memorable experience or project from the course that exemplifies the impact of green chemistry education on attendees?
Cassidy: One of my favorite assignments from the course is where participants design a lesson to introduce their students to the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry and the 20 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This past year, participants used an incredible variety of real-world examples to introduce green chemistry to their students, including soap making, egg drop experiment, colorimetry, chemical reactions, glue, road de-icers, bioplastics, household cleaners, polystyrene packing peanuts, cosmetics, biomimicry, plastic pollution, natural dyes, and food storage containers. The creativity that teachers bring to this assignment is incredible and inspiring.
Erin: I recently worked with an educator who was interested in implementing green chemistry principles in her elementary art classroom. It was fascinating and inspiring to follow her green chemistry journey from a very different educational perspective.
Annette: One of the attendees was a veteran chemist, worked in industry, and was in charge of emulsifying paint, whereby they will take the micro globules of paint particles and create what’s called a disperser. Each of those solvents was so highly toxic. She worked with these solvents for 25 years before becoming a high school teacher, where she used the platform of our course to create a unit on paint. And knowing all the topics you have to know in chemistry — solubility, Ph, electrophoresis — she took all these units and tied them into the learning, each of them based on paint. Then she went back to her former company saying, “Listen, this and this are really highly toxic. Why don’t we try something different?” It’s amazing to me. I got this student from being very afraid of being able to do an advanced course in green chemistry and being able to apply it to students, to then be able to embrace it, learn it, and now is teaching others.
What drives your passion for teaching green chemistry?
Cassidy: Green chemistry uses cutting-edge research and addresses relevant environmental issues, including bioplastics, water quality, climate change, renewable energy, medical sutures, road salts, and oil spills. Incorporating these concepts makes chemistry engaging, relevant, and authentic for all students. I am passionate about teaching students chemistry through experiences that minimize waste, increase safety for students and the environment, and teach students about chemistry in a sustainable way.
Erin: My students! I love watching my students become empowered members of the green chemistry community as they apply their chemistry understandings to innovate, invent, and use sustainable and environmentally conscious practices to address problems applicable and relevant to them.
Annette: I think at the end of the day I feel safer that I’ve made one little change that leads us to maybe a healthier, wealthier way to live.
What are your hopes for the future of green chemistry education? How do you believe these courses can contribute to realizing these goals?
Cassidy: My hope is that green chemistry education will be incorporated in all classrooms, with all ages, and with all students. I want green chemistry education to spread to as many teachers as possible. These courses are a great way to expose teachers and, in turn, their students to green chemistry education.
Erin: My hope for the future of green chemistry education is to bring more awareness to the green chemistry movement. I believe Beyond Benign’s courses contribute by providing accessible and engaging resources that introduce participants to the principles and practices of green chemistry. By equipping educators with the knowledge and tools to integrate green chemistry into their teaching practices, we can inspire the next generation of scientists and innovators to prioritize sustainability and environmental responsibility in their work. This increased awareness and understanding of green chemistry can lead to the widespread adoption of eco-friendly practices across various industries, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable future for our planet.
Annette: I am hoping that if teachers take this course, they’ll take away something they can share in their own communities. Just to bring about an awareness that: yes, chemistry is there, and no, chemistry does not have to be the highly toxic environment that we know. Chemistry can sound challenging to people because it presents a lot of hazards. But if you say green chemistry? It sounds softer, and its practices are safer. I changed the final project in the Advanced Green Chemistry course from being someone’s existing research to creating a unit that you can teach. It brings about ownership. It brings about agency, and it brings about the concept that you are definitely going to talk about it later. Whether it’s your students who take it home to their families or their other classes or it’s your colleagues who see you practicing it and ask about it, you’re creating an awareness that wasn’t there before.
What advice or insights would you share with educators interested in incorporating green chemistry principles into their teaching practices?
Cassidy: Start small — find easy, realistic, and manageable changes that you can make to your classes today. Start with replacing hazardous labs and chemicals with alternatives that are safer for you, your students, and the environment. Then find ways to begin to weave real-world applications of green chemistry throughout your entire curriculum. Incorporating green chemistry is a process, and the “Introduction to Green Chemistry for High School Teachers” course will help you get started!
Erin: Start small. Check out the resources on the GCTLC. Focus on intentionally integrating and exposing your students to one or two green chemistry principles. Implementing microscale chemistry to focus on the first Principle of Green Chemistry — prevention is a low-stakes but powerful entry ramp for green chemistry.
Annette: One day at a time. You can’t get it all done at once. I am overzealous and very hyper about implementing green chemistry, and it still took me three years to actually say, “This is a green chemistry classroom.” I have no qualms about any of the practices that I shared with my students and passed on to my incoming colleagues as I retired because I had taken it in and been able to change each of these practices. And I will never stop learning. I never stop reading. I’m always reading either a Biomimicry Institute magazine, Nature, or ACS Green Chemistry Institute publications because there are so many other things that we might be misinformed about, or are not aware of, or know that it’s bad, but we’re still doing it. So, I say, take your time, but each day, make an effort.
Join a Summer Professional Development Course!
Learn more about these online courses and register by June 1st, 2024. Sponsorships are available for select states.
- Introduction to Green Chemistry for High School Science Teachers | High School Teachers | In this course, Beyond Benign Certified Lead Teacher Cassidy Javner will help prepare you to integrate green chemistry principles and practices into your teaching through real-world sustainable inventions. You’ll learn how to develop safer labs and lessons aligned to your local standards in an interactive environment.
- Sustainable Science: Contextualizing Chemistry Through Safer Hands-On Labs | Middle and High School Teachers | Learn how to weave Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) sustainability content into your classrooms with Beyond Benign Lead Teacher Erin Mayer. Open to middle school and high school teachers, participants will leave with a toolkit of resources and access to a network of other like-minded educators in the region.
- Advanced Green Chemistry: Connections to Our World | High School Teachers | Join Beyond Benign Certified Lead Teacher Annette Sebuyira as you expand your knowledge of green chemistry principles and practices by analyzing Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award technologies. In this course, you’ll dive into toxicology for chemistry basics and investigate the pedagogy for effective guidance of student-based research projects and inquiry-based projects.