Our Story

VAI’s K-12 Story

When Jay and Betty Van Andel founded Van Andel Institute in 1996, they envisioned a world-class biomedical research facility where scientists would tackle some of the most challenging issues threatening human health. They realized these issues would persist well beyond a single generation, so from the outset, the Institute included a K–12 outreach program to complement the research endeavors, preparing the next generation of scientific thinkers and problem solvers.

Van Andel Institute for Education helps teachers across the country transform their science instruction. We have our own student programs where we test innovative pedagogical practices and engaging instructional practices. We then share those best practices with teachers, creating classrooms where curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking thrive.

Our Guiding Principles:

• We believe teachers have the most important job and should be respected and supported as such.
• We never want a lack of funding to be a hindrance to quality instruction.
• We enhance our reputation through the quality of our products and services.
• We are not bound by traditional norms of instruction, and we are continually innovating for the benefit of student learning.
• We value curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in a learning environment.