Category | News

Math-science partnership receives $830,000 grant

Published on April 28, 2009 by Heather Cook

About two weeks ago, a KSU-led partnership received $830,000 to further their work and involvement with science teachers from grades K-12.

The program was started by Greg Rushton, assistant professor of chemistry education, and Tom Brown, associate professor of education science,  in 2007. That year, they received a $600,000 grant.

The program, which is called the Northwest Georgia Math/Science Education Partnership, is designed to further teacher experience in the sciences.

“The main aims of the project are to improve teachers’ content and pedagogical content knowledge relative to the Georgia Performance Standards toward the goal of scientific literacy of Georgia’s K-12 students,” said Rushton. “It is a wonderful opportunity to team up with a fantastic assembly of science, math, education and technology specialists in collaboration with our K-12 partners to develop strong partnerships and a community of professionals devoted to the same goals of improved science and math teaching and learning.”

“The grant will provide us with the opportunity to provide quality instruction, materials and encouragement to a large group of teachers,” said Brown. “We are the largest Math-Science Partnership in the state of Georgia and, in serving seven different school systems, we have the change to improve science and math education for thousands of students.”

Since the establishment of the program, the partnership has trained 120 science teachers. These teachers have come from all over Georgia and they have finished 160 hours of training. This has been possible due to the program and in addition because of education partnerships, such as the Tiger Flight Foundation.

“Our first MSP grant was evaluated very highly by the participating teachers. We are thankful for that. We try to provide teachers with a wide range of enrichment experiences,” said Brown. “For example, we partner with a group of retired pilots - the Tiger Flight Foundation - that take our teachers flying as they promote the wonder of flight and teach about the science concepts involved. They also frequently fly their helicopter to local elementary schools to do in-school field trips that the students love. This partnership has been outstanding for our teachers, students and pilots and we have all learned to appreciate and value the importance of flight, teamwork and collaboration.”

Once the second round of the program picks up in July 2009, six school districts will be reached:  Cobb, Chattooga, Bartow and Polk counties as well as the cities of Rome and Cartersville.

“The more we can enrich the educational experiences of our teachers, the more they will be able to give back to their students,” said Brown.