Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – The Toyota USA Foundation has presented a US$317,778 grant to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania to promote environmental literacy in the country’s middle schools. The grant will be used to create professional development materials for teachers and update their science curriculum using innovative instructional technologies.

Lehigh’s WELIM Initiative, or Web-enhanced Environmental Literacy and Inquiry Modules, is a collaborative effort between its College of Education and the university’s Environmental Initiative. The program will be piloted by Nitschmann and Broughal Middle Schools in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The program will rely on geospatial information technologies (GIT) to help students analyze information and data on energy, climate change and the impact of human activity on the environment. Issues included in the curriculum will be urban and suburban sprawl, water resource usage, pollution and ecosystem management.

“The Toyota USA Foundation is proud to support the WELIM initiative,” said Patricia Pineda, Toyota’s Group Vice President, National Philanthropy and the Toyota USA Foundation. “Education has always been a priority for us, and environmental literacy is critical for the next generation of leaders. WELIM will teach environmental science in a comprehensive and innovative way.”

The Toyota USA Foundation is a US$100 million charitable endowment created to support education programs serving kindergarten through 12th-grade students and their teachers in the U.S., with an emphasis on mathematics, science and environmental science.