Randy Cook

Cook’s innovative teaching idea, “Water Chemistry,” addresses the water contamination issue at Tri County Middle School. Many other schools in other cities have had major problems with their drinking water across Michigan, many of which made national news because of problems with their water. The Great Lakes and other inland lakes are experiencing multitudes of invasive species and other problems based on usage. Learning about ions in Cook’s chemistry class will have practical, real world applications. With the Voya grant funds, water testing for specific ions using Vernier Technology probes and sensors will be possible. Not only will Cook’s students be going out to water sources that they use for recreation, but they will get a chance to use some of the newest educational technology to perform water chemistry testing. According to Cook, students will be able to perform a number of ion specific tests to compare the parameters of high-quality natural waters.