As a new school year kicks off this week at Mary Queen of Apostles School in New Kensington, eighth grade students will also find new environmental lessons in their classrooms, thanks to Alcoa Technical Center in Upper Burrell. Alcoa sponsored eighth-grade science teacher Evelyn Quade of Apollo to attend The Keystone Center’s Key Issues Institute: Bringing Environmental Issues to the Classroom in Colorado from June 25-July 1. Quade will implement ideas she learned at the institute during the upcoming academic year.
"The Key Issues Institute inspires teachers and supplies them with ideas and materials that will enhance their teaching of the decision-making process especially as it pertains to environmental issues and sustainability,” said Quade. “It was a great educational experience.”
Quade was chosen by Alcoa from numerous applicants from schools in communities near Alcoa’s North American locations.
Key Issues Institute is a national teacher training workshop that provides creative and innovative middle-level educators with the process, skills and confidence to investigate current environmental issues in a non-biased manner with their students. Within the context of a scientific investigation, teachers spend the 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 as well as on-line support with other educators and instructors.
“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 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
The Keystone Center (TKC) 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 Alcoa 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.
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