K-12 Education needs a seat at national and international industry tables. Here's why.

Welcome to?Constructing Innovators: Building Tomorrow’s Educational & Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.?This biweekly newsletter features insights from Science Research Institute leaders that aim to cultivate conversations that matter for educators, administrators, legislators, and our communities. In this issue, Science Research Institute Founder and Dean of Pre-College and Summer Programs at Albright College?Adelle Schade?discusses what we stand to gain when K-12 Education has a seat at the table during national and international industry discussions.

Science, art, and education.

Each field has the ability and capacity to drive innovation, to invite the question of, “What’s next?” And at the first ever National Day of Glass conference in April 2022, that’s exactly what we discussed.?

Members from the largest companies and biggest minds in the North American glass industry, art community, government agencies, and educational systems who rely on glass were all in attendance. And for me, as someone whose background is in K-12 education, it was an honor and a privilege to not only attend, but also give voice to the reality of the 2022 classroom.?

I’ve spent much of my career thinking about how to give students agency and authority over their own education. That question of “What’s next?” has been a driving force. It’s what led me to focus on creating authentic learning experiences that invite students to explore their passions. It’s also how I ended up at this very conference.

Back when I was working as a high school science teacher, I noticed kids were buckling under the pressure of nonstop testing. As it stood, Berks County was already under-resourced — not to mention, students didn’t necessarily see education as a means to opportunity. I wanted to bring fun back into the classroom. Thus the Total Experience Learning? program was born.?

I invited my students to explore what was interesting to them. Maybe it was a student who loved art, but thought they hated science. Challenge that student to create a new paint system and now art and science are intertwined. In following this model, suddenly, students could see how science was embedded in the foundation of just about any area of interest, while further exploring their own.

When glass products kept coming up in my research, it seemed like a reasonable request to ask a manufacturer for samples to study. That request led to a pivotal conversation with former Mo-Sci CEO, Ted Day, which led to scholarship and funding support for my students and mentorship for me. In his wisdom, he saw an opportunity to connect the work we were doing in the classroom with the conversations business and industry leaders were having about how to meet workforce demand. And what better place to bring the two together than at industry conferences??

As it turned out, I was often the only K-12 educator in attendance at these glass and materials science conferences.

Once industry leaders also started connecting the dots between how the work I was doing in the classroom could lead to filling their workforce needs, they too wanted to play a role. From there, numerous partnerships were born that allowed students to explore their interests in a meaningful way that extended well beyond the classroom.?

While I’m not in the classroom anymore, that question of “What’s Next” has led to my current role as the founder of the Science Research Institute at Albright College, where we integrate Total Experience Learning? into teacher training while providing expansive programming for K-12 students. I see my role as facilitating education to become an exciting place for students while breaking down silos between the classroom and the workforce. Colleges and universities may be better equipped to communicate with industry organizations, but K-12 educators can play an instrumental role in getting students to even consider how their interests might align and inspire innovation in current industries.?

That’s why it was so meaningful to me to speak on behalf of K-12 educators throughout the United States, at a conference that included the CEO of Corning and the director of the National Science Foundation!

Participating on the panel meant that there was a recognition that if we want to enact change, K-12 has to be at the table. It means that there’s an awareness that we need to break barriers between K-12, higher-ed, and business/industry.

And there’s an overriding culture of innovation and change — which will filter down to current and future students, paving the way for more dedicated, passionate, and innovative workers in the glass science space.?

So what’s next? It’s the International Year of Glass, which means there are more events and conferences to attend, more changemakers to meet, and more connections to be made. At the international conference in October, I’ll be meeting with teachers from several countries to discuss how we can implement Total Experience Learning? with glass science in their classrooms. Taking Total Experience Learning? international? Why not! Along the way, I’m continually inspired by the people I meet and the ways I continue to discover how science, art, business, industry, technology, and all the other fields intertwine.