30 teachers from across Ohio spent two days in inquiry-based, hands-on STEM lessons addressing Ohio science standards in Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science and Middle School Science. The Feed the World workshop, held at Tri-Rivers Career Center, was sponsored by Ohio Corn & Wheat.
Rebecca Wedertz from North Union High School heard about the workshop from a colleague. She said, “I’ve been working on sustainability with my environmental class. A lot of my students farm or know farmers, so being able to talk about the issues they are dealing with is helpful, especially getting conversations going around GMOs. When we talked about that last year, the students’ opinions changed as we looked at the facts.”
Wedertz said she plans to use some of the ethanol experiments in her physical science class. “My favorite was transforming DNA in the GFP lab. It was really interesting and I can’t wait to try it out with my students!”
Melissa Abrams, Hillsdale High School, heard about the workshops at NSTA. She said, “I’m excited to use these materials in my classroom—to do some corn fermentation in connection with macromolecules and cellular respiration, so they can measure the gas and use the breathalyzer. I’ll use that in my forensics class as well when we talk about blood-alcohol level.”
Abrams continued, “I had so much fun! This conference was great. I’m the only biology teacher in my building, and getting to network with other biology teachers is important.”
Chuck Latto, South Amherst Middle School, teaches 6th-8th grade STEM classes. He said he plans to share career information with his 6th graders, particularly about technology and engineering. “We have a lot of agriculture in our area, but I don’t think many students realize all that goes on with a seed, all the things farmers are doing to increase yields, or the technology and computer programming involved in agricultural equipment today.”
Watch for upcoming workshops on our website!