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$1.3
million NSF math/science grant aims to improve teaching
Over the next three years, students in area schools will learn
science and mathematics in innovative ways with the help of
graduate students from BGSU.
The University is receiving more than $1.3 million from the
National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve science and math
education by creating partnerships between graduate programs
at the University and public schools in East Toledo and the
Springfield, Bowling Green and other Wood County districts.
The grant is about $360,000 for this year and, if funds remain
available and the project shows progress, $500,000 in both
2004 and 2005.
Teachers from the participating districts will work with graduate
students from BGSU’s natural sciences and math programs
to implement teaching methods aimed at increasing student
understanding, success and motivation in science and math,
according to Robert Midden, chemistry and
director of the new program.
The program is the latest in a series of education-related
projects that have brought substantial grant funding to BGSU.
The most recent was COSMOS, in which the University joined
forces with the University of Toledo and other northwest Ohio
partners last fall to create a “center of excellence”
in science and math education, backed by a $1-million award
from the Ohio Board of Regents.
What makes the new program unusual, Midden said, is that the
grant dollars will pay the stipends of graduate students in
the sciences as they help plan and implement the innovative
teaching practices in elementary, junior high and high schools.
The graduate students will “be able to bring science
to life in the classroom,” serving as role models for
the younger students while becoming more effective teachers,
added Lena Ballone, Division of Teaching
and Learning.
Ballone and Stephen Van Hook, physics and
astronomy, are working with Midden on the project. Also assisting
is a team of BGSU faculty from the departments of biology,
chemistry, geology and psychology, as well as from mathematics,
physics and astronomy, and the Division of Teaching and Learning.
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