“The materials presented and shared in Intro to Green Chemistry will absolutely encourage students to be greener and lead more sustainable lives… If we think about the process to limit or refrain from using materials at the high school level perhaps the next decade will show environmental improvement.”
As a solutions-based science, green chemistry has proven to be impactful for K-12 student learning. From the high school chemistry lab to elementary science classes, students of green chemistry are asked a common question: How can we engage science through a sustainable lens? Of course, for students to tackle this challenge, instructors must first have an answer themselves – . This is where we come in.
However, green chemistry is not yet often embedded in most teaching curricula which presents a real barrier for educators seeking to integrate sustainability into their classroom. Overcoming this challenge is a core focus of our professional development courses.
Each summer, K-12 educators from across the United States gather in virtual classrooms to learn, share, and grow together at Beyond Benign online professional development courses. Their instructors are other K-12 teachers—who have years of experience partnering with Beyond Benign to teach ways to green the chemistry classroom and catalyze student engagement with sustainability topics
When our Summer 2024 cohort wrapped up their courses and submitted their final projects, we asked them to tell us about their experience. We hope the reflections below inspire you as much as they have inspired us.
Sustainable Science: Contextualizing Chemistry through Safer Hands-On Labs:
Problem-solving with chemistry to create safe and engaging NGSS-aligned chemistry labs, designing solutions for sustainability challenges.
“I learned the basics about green chemistry in Sustainable Science: Contextualizing Chemistry through Safer Hands-On Labs, and this short course was invaluable in opening my eyes to this important area of science. As a high school science teacher, my interest was to learn to revise chemistry labs to make them safer, from set up to disposal. But along with that, I realized I need — and my students need — to know more about this sustainable approach to chemical processes and products, so I’m hoping to read more and take another green chemistry course to further my and my students’ understanding.”
Introduction to Green Chemistry:
Integrating green chemistry principles and practices into your teaching through real-world sustainable inventions.
“I want to incorporate more green chemistry innovations and research because I find it interesting and I think the students do too. I think the materials I learned in Intro to Green Chemistry will improve student understanding of how to critically think about environmental impact and waste production, which are two things they may not think about regularly. With this awareness, they can make better informed decisions and could be inspired to bring these ideals to future science courses and careers.”
“I plan to share green chemistry with the chemistry teacher in my new school, and the science lead in the superintendent’s office. The materials presented and shared in Intro to Green Chemistry will absolutely encourage students to be greener and lead more sustainable lives. It is a method to teach about waste, usage of harmful materials, and production of harmful materials. If we think about the process to limit or refrain from using materials at the high school level perhaps the next decade will show environmental improvement.”
Advanced Green Chemistry:
Taking green chemistry practice to the next level in your classroom through toxicology and analysis to support student based research and inquiry projects.
“In Advanced Green Chemistry, I learned how to plan a unit with the 12 Green Chemistry Principles in mind and how to use the principles to guide lessons that are interesting to my students. I was able to use what I learned in this course to rewrite my unit on solutions chemistry using a case study and weaving the concepts of toxicology throughout. I will be presenting my new unit in the spring of this upcoming school year.”
“In Advanced Green Chemistry, one of the most significant things I learned was about the Green Chemistry Awards Study, Toxicology unit, Specific Green Chemistry Labs. I will implement it in my classroom by utilizing green chemistry labs in class, explicitly incorporating the 12 Green Chemistry Principles.”
“After taking the Advanced Green Chemistry course, I have better alternative labs to use, including the ones that we developed. We will now use the common language of the 12 Green Chemistry Principles with the students, and I will be reducing hazards in the classroom, incorporating SDS and hazard pictograms. I love the community we formed in this class and hope to continue to engage. The size of this class was great. Even though the course was online, the size made it feel very personal.”
“I learned much more about toxicology and current innovations in green chemistry. As a result, I rewrote an entire unit (solutions) in my curriculum and modified my intro unit. This will help increase student understanding of their ability to solve sustainability challenges with chemistry a great deal! We are definitely going to implement more changes with an environmental lens and we are attempting to not buy any NEW toxic chemicals as we work through the materials in our stockroom and convert all labs to more environmentally safe options.”
How to get involved:
- Subscribe to Beyond Benign’s newsletter to be the first to know about future professional development courses and learning opportunities.
- Join the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community to connect with your peers, access resources, and more.
- Want to bring in some green chemistry labs into your K-12 classrooms? Check out our “starter kit” here to see where to start.
