Expanding CAPCO Educational Messages through New Channels

As part of CAPCO’s mission to provide accurate information about aerosol products, one of its key target audiences is teachers.  In addition to attending the National Science Teachers Association annual conference each year where CAPCO reaches thousands of teachers with its messaging about recycling aerosol product containers, the technology used in aerosols and correcting any dated misconceptions about aerosol products and the environment, CAPCO also supports other groups as well.

Women in Science:

The Oklahoma Women in Science Conference is free to all participants and features many speakers
and hands on activities for approximately 500 girls and their 90 teachers to encourage them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).   Research shows (link to source) only 15% of incoming coming college freshmen women intend to pursue a major in STEM as compared to 30% of men. Keeping Math & Science at the forefront for all students is important to maintain a high level of product innovation in the aerosol products industry as well as important for our workforce as a whole to stay at the leading edge of innovation.


 

Percentage of Employed STEM Professionals Who Are Women, Selected Professions, 2008

Women are clearly a minority in STEM focused studies and careers and CAPCO was pleased to support the Oklahoma Women in Science Conference by sending full-color flyers highlighting all of its web-based educational resources, a hand-out on Recycling Facts and was also listed on the conference’s wiki space.  Dr. Theresa Cullen, Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at University of Oklahoma and key organizer for the event, finds value in giving the students a broad perspective on issues and strives to include materials both from regulatory bodies as well as from industry.

Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products:

The Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products has begun an outreach program to help educate Chilean students about aerosol product technology, recycling aerosol cans and aerosols and the environment.  As part of their outreach efforts, they are having the “Another Amazing Aerosol Adventure”  educational video professionally translated into Spanish.  This will be a great opportunity not only for the Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products to reach out in Chile, but also for CAPCO to reach more of the Spanish speaking market in the U.S. and other Spanish speaking countries.

CAPCO had Successful NSTA Conference!

The 2011 National Science Teacher’s Association (NSTA) Conference just took place in San Francisco where CAPCO volunteers successfully communicated three key messages to an estimated 1,400 people.

In preparation for the conference, CAPCO produced a full-color handout that stressed 3 messages:

1. Technology: Aerosol technology is a great way to teach several basic scientific principles.
2. Environment: Aerosol products haven’t had CFCs for over 30 years.
3. Recycling: Empty Aerosol cans are recyclable.

It also highlighted all of the resources that we have available for teachers including; a newly updated website, an updated Teacher’s Kit with 10 lessons and 5 experiments, an interactive learning website www.ecoaerosols.org and our educational videos. In addition, CAPCO collaborated with the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI) to develop a handout with information and facts on recycling empty consumer aerosol cans.

CAPCO’s presence at the conference was met with either:

• Confusion: “Why are you here?” or “So…these are bad aerosols, right?”
• Intrigue: “Wow, I recycle and I didn’t know that aerosol cans could be recycled.”
• Gratitude: “Thanks for being here, I try to communicate that aerosols no longer harm the ozone in my classroom year after year and students still come in believing that they do!”

Of course, we would not have received the booth traffic that we did without the 3000+ products that were donated from industry supporters. The product giveaways included WD-40 (3oz travel size and No-Mess Pen), Sprayway (4oz Glass Cleaner), Energizer (Skintimate shave gel), BP Blaster (Garage Door Lubricant and multi-purpose lubricant), United Industries (Cutter Insect Repellant) and assorted aerosol products from Chase. In addition to the product donations, several people also donated their time by volunteering at the CAPCO booth: John Blum (Ball Corporation), Casper Chiang (Clorox Company), and Don and Sharon Rowen from Industrial Hydrocarbons.

After engaging with several teachers and educators we were able to gather some valuable feedback and come up with some great ideas for how we may improve the resources that CAPCO currently offers to teachers and students. In addition, many teachers are in the process of “greening” their classrooms and schools, so there are also opportunities to help teachers to develop a lesson plan that encouraged their students to reach out to their local municipalities and trash haulers to urge them to accept aerosol cans for recycling in their communities. This would be a helpful tool and a great Earth Day activity.

Overall, it was a successful conference, but there is still much work to be done! Many of the teachers we spoke to still believed that some or all of aerosol products contained CFCs, demonstrating that it is important for CAPCO to continue on its mission to educate teachers, consumers and the media on the facts and benefits of aerosol products.