Putting Children First - Science Grant Winners

	2011/2012 Science Grant Winners
Teachers Name and School	Grant Title and Brief Synopsis

Jason Joyner / 8 Church Hill Middle	Let There Be Light with No Water or Air Pollution What does "alternative" mean? It means going against the norm, or in the terms of "alternative energy" = saving the planet. Experts believe that by 2050, one-third of the planet's energy will come from alternative resources such as solar, wind, water, and geothermal energy. The funds from this grant will be used to purchase Alternative Energy Kits and other science manipulatives that will be used to make science exploratory stations for the classroom. The students will be divided up into 6 groups that will rotate periodically in a three-week laboratory experience. The students will learn through hands-on activities to design and build alternative energy devices and study the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels. The funds from this grant will provide each student with opportunities to improve their cognitive thinking abilities. These abilities will focus on problem solving by using their knowledge of the subject matter and applying it to real world scenarios. The materials purchased are all reusable products that will be used by future students.
Marsha Buck/Hope Hall / 8 Ross N. Robinson Middle	Lost...on Electromagnetic Island "A deserted island. Five scientists. Knowledge, ingenuity and resourcefulness - their only assets. Watch what happens!"...The producers of the PBS television series Rough Science have developed a show that is based on this premise and that demonstrates how a combination of science, engineering and perseverance can solve real-world problems. Using this idea, we have created a unit designed to introduce our eighth grade students to the world of electromagnetism. The focus of this proposal is to acquire funds to purchase the necessary supplies and materials needed to conduct an engaging, three-week unit designed to allow students to investigate the relationship between electricity and magnetism through a variety of hands-on design challenges. Students will be presented with a scenario that places them into teams that have become stranded on a deserted island with only rudimentary tools at their disposal. Teams will work through a series of challenges using the fundamental concepts of electricity and magnetism. These challenges will be within the context of having to survive on the fictional island with the ultimate goal of getting off the island.
Ellen Brumett / 1 Surgoinsville Elementary	Kids Just Want to Predict the Weather Installing a David Vantage Vue Weather Station along with the purchase of correlating weather materials will provide students with a wonderful avenue for observing and studying weather conditions, academic vocabulary, and its relation to every day life. This project will give students the opportunity to document weather data such as wind speed, temperature, rainfall amounts, barometric pressure, etc. along with the opportunity to use the collected data to present a student forecast for daily school activities. This project will begin by viewing a collection of local meteorologists giving the daily forecast along with a brainstorming session as to the importance of understanding daily weather and terminology with its relation to everyday life. The project will progress with daily journal entries of our local school weather data using the Davis weather system. Students will use the daily documentation of the weather station data to prepare and present a daily weather forecast for the school. Students will use appropriate vocabulary and meteorology data to deliver these forecasts! Students will also make take home bags of journals, "The Kids Book of Weather Forecasting", and thermometers. We would like to wrap up the project with a visit from one of our local meterologist.
Natalie Pickett / 10-12 Dobyns-Bennett HS	Super Models of Matter The goal of this grant is to provide students with models to visualize atomic orbitals, bond polarity, and intermolecular forces. The first objective is that students will construct models of the s, p, and d orbitals with the grant-provided atomic orbital kits. The second objective is that students will sketch these orbitals and consider the implications of a 3-D shape on the behavior of atoms. The third objective is that students will see how multiple orbitals combine to form the sp, sp2, sp3 hybrid orbitals. The fourth objective is that students will construct organic and inorganic molecular shapes. The fifth objective is that students will use the grant-provided water kits to visualize how polar and nonpolar substances interact (intermolecular forces). Lastly, students will design a lab to remove a polar or nonpolar stain from a fabric and summarize their findings in a written lab report or journal article.
Rachel Horn / 9-12 Daniel Boone HS	Using Materials Science Activities to Excite Students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Careers Materials Science labs will be used to motivate and excite students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content and STEM-related careers. Hands-on, inquiry-based Materials Science labs will teach students the important role that STEM plays in creating the material things of modern life. Materials Science activities are relevant in high school physical science class because chemistry and physics concepts are essential in the study of materials. The five Materials Science lab activities that students will engage in are the Growing Silver Crystals Lab, Corrosion of Metals Lab, Polydensity Tubes Lab, the Polyurethane Resin Cast Clip Mold (making a plastic clothes pin) Lab and the Expanded Polystyrene Beads Mold (making a styrofoam football) Lab. Students are more enthusiastic to learn STEM skills when they are engaged in real-world, hands-on, inquiry-based activities. The Materials Science Labs will excite students to learn science and pursue STEM careers because they will see the importance of STEM in making the material things they use in their everyday lives.
Twana McKinney / 9-12 David Crockett HS	Who's Your Mama? Genetics has become a buzz word actively in the past 10 years. The popularity has grown through the media in forensic TV programs, reality shows on learning channels, and even in the news. The audience for these programs has become younger and younger. The study of genetics is extremely demanding on the state standards but is challenging to the students to think at a molecular level without having any strong chemistry background. The genetics unit is based on the use of genetic models, manipulatives, and investigative kits. By using this product in the study, the students will be able to take abstract concepts concrete. By investigating heredity, these models and manipulatives will provide valuable reinforcement to the molecular world. Students can build a visual aid to their studies. The genetics project would have them make connections between DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis. Then, by applying this knowledge the student will be able to model cell division and meiosis. Tangibly, the student will be able to manipulate human genetics by constructing a karyotype to visually see different chromosomal disorders. With this new found knowledge of heredity using visual aids, the student will be able to perform a research project exploring scientific and ethical issues associated with gene technologies such as genetic engineering, cloning, and DNA fingerprinting.
Judy Ketron / PreK-5 Lincoln Elementary	I Dig Bones: Using Science Inquiry to Analyze Bones and Solve Bone Mysteries This project is designed to provide students in grades 2,3,4, and 5 a hands-on discovery science setting with standards based and hands-on inquiry based activities to guide students in developing and deepening their understandings of life science concepts relating to animal classification and adaptation, biodiversity and change, fossil formation/evidence/analysis, predatory/prey relationships, food webs and the flow of energy through the biosphere. In addition, students will use mathematical concepts relating to measurement, data collection/graphs, and data analysis/prediction as they conduct a mammalian skull science inquiry-based investigation while learning to make both quantitative and qualitative observations and associated inferences. The project also is designed for students to dissect owl pellets, conduct a simulated fossil dig, and create fossil casts. Not only will the children be prepared to meet Tennessee's science and math standards in these designated areas, but they will gain valuable life experience in team work, problem solving, and design through the context of scientific inquiry.
Iva Rice / 7 Ross N. Robinson Middle	Rocking with Rocks The goal of Rocking with Rocks project is to provide students with hands-on activities in order for them to explore the forces inside and outside the Earth's surface that shape our planet. As a foundation, students will construct a layered Earth replica that demonstrates the planet's structure. Next, students will investigate assorted stone specimens by observing, experimenting, and recording results. They will begin by growing salt crystals to model minerals. Then, they will practice geology by performing four standard field tests on ten mineral samples, for luster, hardness, true color, and the presence of calcium carbonate. The collected data will show the distinguishing properties of each type and help students become expert identifiers. Students will also explore the formation of three types of rocks and trace how heating and cooling, weathering and erosion, and compression create a perpetual rock cycle. They will also model, map and measure the forces that result in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building.
Karrianne McPheron / 1 Surgoinsville Elementary	One New Step for Technology, One Giant LEAP for the Classroom LeapFrog's new LeapPad Explorer provides students with a multitude of educational and creative experiences using brand new advances in technology. The ongoing small group project will utilize the five tablets supplied in the LeapPad Explorer system to allow each student access to a tablet three times every week. During center circulation, the LeadPad Explorer's game cartridges, e-books, and downloadable apps, featuring content in science, math, writing, reading, and life skills, will supplement the current curriculum being taught on a regular schedule within the classroom. The hands-on design offers easy assessment and differentiation methods by transferring data from the devices to LeapFrog's website, providing teachers with helpful information about the students' strengths and weaknesses from every completed activity. As a student finishes an activity, he/she automatically continues to a new, more advanced level. Students who may need extra time to navigate through the games are able to move at their own pace. This project will take advantage of the technology-based equipment to produce more advanced learners and to establish lifelong skills in all content areas, especially science and math.
Bill Francis / 7 Ross N. Robinson Middle	A World in Motion: Motorized Toy Car Challenge A World in Motion: Motorized Toy Car Challenge gives students the opportunity to use science, mathematics, and technology to explore the engineering design process. The engineering design experience draws on the problem-solving process frequently used by engineers in design teams and taught at many engineering schools across the country. During the 8-12 week experience, students are given a hands-on opportunity to work through the steps of the engineering design process as they: identify a need; develop possible solutions; build a prototype; test and evaluate the prototype; modify and retest the prototype; present their design to an audience. The challenge is posed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the fictitious company, Mobility Toys, Inc., who is interested in receiving new designs for moving toys. The toy company sends the RFP to the class requesting written proposals, sketches, and working models of designs that meet a specific set of requirements. Over the course of the curriculum, a variety of activities will prepare the students to develop a proposal and a prototype for a toy of their own design. Students must work in teams and as a team to complete the requirements stated in the letter. The program culminates in student presentations of their working models and a discussion of the design teams' efforts to address the challenge.
Becky Creasy/Jenny Jensen / 7 John Sevier Middle	They Did What? Exploring Great Scientific Ideas The Delta Science Module introduces students to six famous scientists and some of the many contributions that they have made to human civilization. The kit reaches beyond classroom exploration with objects, concepts, and principles to put a human face on science. The module is interdisciplinary both within the sciences and within the overall grade 6-8 science curriculum. Not only do the activities engage students in several science disciplines appropriate to middle school investigation – physical science and technology, environmental science and astronomy, life science and ecosystems – they also present scientific accomplishments and turning points in the context of times, places, and cultures. The biographies of the six science pioneers establish links between science and society, and between the past and present. Students work in cooperative groups, much like what they will experience in the work force. To better prepare these students for high school science, they will present their findings to the group and maintain a scientific notebook – all of which will be part of high school requirements. By teaching how science is investigated in middle school, students enter high school better able to focus on the content and won't have to learn procedural skills while trying to learn the new science material.
Beth Russum/Mary Cleek / 3, 1 Miller Perry Elementary	Science Lab The idea for the Science Lab began when all third grade students in 2009-10 rotated classes during intervention/enrichment time. One classroom rotation was a mini-science lab with experiments. The children came with curiosity and left with enthusiasm and conceptual understanding. The students could not wait to get into the room each day. Our vision for this project is to create a science lab that would be used by all students for curriculum based projects and enrichment activities. An empty classroom was converted into a lab and opened in late spring of 2011. We want to provide a variety of hands-on manipulatives in our lab that will bridge the gap from textbook learning to real world experiences. Earth and Space Science is one facet of our lab. All students in grades K-5 study Earth and Space Science. The study of planets, objects in space, and landforms have always been engaging topics of study for all students. Creating this laboratory will enable teachers to take interesting topics of classroom discussion and transform the child's perspective of our universe and its physical characteristics.
Sherri Smith / 3 Fairmont Elementary	Funtastic Friday with Force and Motion Enter our third grade classrooms on any Friday and enjoy a rotation of four one hour action filled science lessons. Delta Science Modules provide 12 hands-on inquiry-based Force and Motion activities to assure mastery of the third grade TN Science standards. DSM provides an opportunity for the students to compare the relative work of moving identical objects different distances and different objects identical distance. The learners will investigate how simple machines make work easier by reducing the amount of force needed. Throughout the unit, the students will lift with levers, roll with wheels and axles, and raise items with fixed and movable pulleys. The young researchers will pull loads up inclined planes, separate objects with wedges, and secure blocks with screws. The operation of a spring scale will be demonstrated by the teacher. Our third grade scientists will crank gears, decrease friction, and investigate household gadgets in order to identify what makes them a labor-saving device. The students will incorporate reading about the relationship between force, motion, and work. By using the modules and the Delta Science reader, Force and Motion, it will be discovered how the six simple machines help people do work by moving objects easier, faster, or farther.
Diana O'Neal / 7 Boones Creek Middle	Fleeing Physics Fears When students are introduced to the topic of physics, they often seem to be intimidated by the terminology before instruction begins. Providing opportunities to work with simple and familiar materials representing real world applications could ease their physics fears and guide them in comprehension of physical science concepts. The Delta Education kit, Newton's Toy Box, offers multiple hands-on experiments to prove to students that daily life is filled with physics concepts. Students learn to develop inquiry skills to extend their logical thinking processes. Each law of motion is addressed in detail with high engagement in recording predictions, making hypotheses, performing experiments, making and recording detailed observations, and drawing conclusions. The students will be involved in races, games, and other challenges that demonstrate and emphasize the laws of motion with connections to terminology. Performing and participating in the lab activities, the students develop their abilities in using physics terms as they learn about inertia, gravity, acceleration, mass, force, and momentum. The kit offers ideas and suggestions to integrate with math and language arts, as well as connections to experiences in their own homes and surrounding environment.
Dr. Jonathan Fields / 9-12 Sullivan North HS	Taxonomy with a Technology Twist A program of study will be implemented with high school biology students that emphasizes and reinforce the fundamental ideas behind taxonomy (study of classifying living things). Taxonomy is a state standard in biology for Tennessee and this program of study addresses nearly every aspect of all standards regarding taxonomy. Groups of students will be assigned a specific group (phylum) of animals (insects, birds, and other specimens found on campus) to photograph and scientifically identify using dichotomous keys and/or field guides. After photographing these specimens, students will return to the classroom for sketching, further research in the library/media center, and designing a presentation that clearly identifies the major characteristics the group used to classify their organism. Students will also develop technology skills as they use a digital camera, online research engines, as well as designing a PowerPoint presentation to present their results. Funds from this project would allow nearly 200 biology students per year to experience a hands on, interactive field activity that they ordinarily would not be able to participate in due to financial constraints.