Learning Grants by SRP 2012-13 recipients

A total of 70 applications were received for the Learning Grants by SRP program. The review team was pleased with the response and the quality of the applications. 27 projects were selected for funding, however, there were many that were also deserving of funds and the final choice was very difficult.

SRP will fund the following projects for a total of: $126,320

• Burk Elementary School (Gilbert) – $4,255. Students at Burk Elementary School will have the opportunity to participate in several engaging projects throughout the school year in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Club. They will study Mars including career exploration in science and engineering, visit the Challenger Space Center and Biosphere 2, create models of the Earth system, and participate in the Future Cities Project.
• Carl Hayden Community High School (Phoenix) – $4,629. Students at Carl Hayden High School will be installing a solar array on the roof of the school's science building. Furthermore, they will be building a website to stream various production and weather data from the panels to be used by the students in all of the school's Physical Science and Physics classes. 19 classes of students will be manipulating and working with the data as well as monitoring the effectiveness of the panels.
• Casa Grande High School (Casa Grande) – $4,300. Teachers at Casa Grande High School will better meet the needs of their students through the Biology in the 21st Century program in which regular education Biology teachers team up with special education teachers to co-plan lessons and experiences that all students can benefit from. The highlight of this program will be the purchase of a 3D whiteboard and supporting software which will enable the special education teachers to bring biology concepts to life while pre-teaching and re-teaching concepts from the biology classroom.
• Cesar Chavez High School (Laveen) – $5,000. Students in the robotics team at Cesar Chavez High School will have the opportunity to participate in the FIRST Tech Challenge (beginning level robotics engineering), FIRST Lego League (intermediate level), and FIRST Robotics Competition (an expert level engineering competition involving improving the functionality of a robot system). In addition to the rigorous academics and arduous time engineering their robots, the high school students will also mentor elementary school students interested in learning about engineering.
• Country Place Elementary (Tolleson) – $2,526. Seven First Lego League competition teams throughout the Littleton Elementary School District will be funded with this grant funding. Students will also participate in the LEGO Green City Challenge in which students are given a number of missions simulating real-life challenges, each environmentally focused. Students will also focus on practicing presentation skills and will present their robots to other students within their schools.
• Desert Vista High School (Tempe/Ahwatukee) – $5,000. Students in the Engineering Academy at Desert Vista High School will get to experience real-life applications of science and math by designing a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine and vehicle. Some of the lessons this type of project will enable are aerodynamic drag and high speeds, air quality issues associated with burning fossil fuels and how hydrogen will compare, engine operation and efficiency, storage of hydrides and much more! This integrated project will span multiple subjects and 20 teachers from throughout the school will participate with their students.
• Edu-Prize (Gilbert) – $5,000. All third through eighth grade students at Edu-Prize School in Gilbert will benefit from a new robotics program. Through the robotics program, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) will be integrated into a thematic unit which will span 6 weeks for each classroom. The focus of the program will be to construct robots to address a specific problem which can in turn be generalized to seeing real-world applications for robots and other technology. The goal is to engage students in hands-on product-based thinking and learning.
• Fountain Hills High School (Fountain Hills) – $5,000. Students in the engineering class at Fountain Hills High School will engage in a project to investigate the viability of using non-edible vegetable oils as potential diesel fuel substitutes. Various mixtures of non-edible oils combined with diesel fuel will be tested in an EPA-exempt vehicle that students, under the supervision of qualified automotive specialists, will modify to accommodate diesel fuel mixtures. The project involves not only students from various science classes within the school, but also enlists the help and support of students and instructors from the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT).
• Franklin Elementary (Mesa) – $4,439. While this charter school's approach is normally a "back-to-basics" type curriculum, teachers at Franklin Elementary realized they need to provide additional types of experiences for their students in order to prepare students to accomplish the new Common Core objectives for mathematics. Teachers at the four partner schools under the Franklin Charter system, will use new document cameras and math manipulatives to facilitate discussions among students regarding their thinking about math concepts. Approximately 320 6th graders will benefit from being able to work with math concepts in a hands-on approach, then show and explain their work to their peers using the technology of the document camera.
• Frye Elementary (Chandler) – $4,750. Students at Frye Elementary will benefit from a thematic approach to integrating science and social studies into their regular curriculum. Students will engage in projects through the exploration of a structural engineering timeline: Ancient Egypt through the present. From building models of prehistoric dwellings like the Ancient Egyptians and constructing a dome when learning about Rome to building a bridge out of popsicle sticks when learning about the 20th century, students will participate in integrated engineering challenges as well as present their learning throughout the year in various ways (podcasts, demonstrations to parents, and making videos).
• Hearn Academy (Phoenix) – $5,000. 5th-8th grade students at the Hearn Academy middle school will benefit from new science lab equipment, microscopes, and ChemLab software. The ChemLab software allows for engaging science labs without the safety concerns of working with hazardous chemicals. Microscopes will also be used throughout the science classes to explore wonders on a microscopic level and expose students to basic science lab materials.
• Horizon Elementary School (Glendale) – $5,000. Horizon's FIRST Lego League Robotics Club is moving into the 21st century by way of iPads for use in designing and building their robots. By way of the FIRST Lego League App for iPads, students will be able to design and test their robots before building. They will also be exposed to real-life design software which is prominent in modern engineering fields. In addition to the robotics club, the iPads will be used in the general science classes to do research and data analysis.
• Jane Dee Hull Elementary School (Chandler) – $5,000. The Jane Dee Hull Elementary Math Professional Learning Community (PLC) is working hard to strengthen the math content knowledge of its teachers and the depth of content knowledge for its students. With grant funds from SRP, the school will purchase math "tool kits" for each child which will include necessary math manipulatives. These math toolkits will allow for teachers to enhance standards based math lessons, develop students' mathematical practices and enhance the school's Singapore Math philosophy.
• Magma Ranch K-8 (Florence) – $3,982. Inquiry-based science learning is being amplified next year at Magma Ranch K-8 in Florence. Through a newly outfitted science lab, teachers and students will be able to participate in science inquiry lab experiences thus expanding their capacity to teach students the inquiry skills which were lacking compared to district peers last year on the AIMS test. Those inquiry skills will then be exemplified during a school-wide science fair and family night in the spring in which students will all have to prepare an independent project and share it with their peers and families.
• McCartney Ranch Elementary (Casa Grande) – $5,000. Students in grades kindergarten through fifth will be learning math with a whole new resource next year – math "tool kits" full of manipulatives to help math concepts become more concrete. In order to master the more rigorous conceptual demands of the Common Core state standards in math, McCartney Ranch Elementary has determined that students need new ways to access the math concepts being taught in their classrooms. Through student-centered active learning, the "Building the Future through Mathematics" program will excite students with new and better ways of learning.
• Mesa Preparatory Academy (Mesa) – $4,964. The focus of the Mesa Preparatory Academy science department is to develop understanding through discussion and hands-on experiences. SRP will fund scientific equipment necessary for approximately 350 students in grades 6-12 to conduct inquiry-based labs and projects. These materials will be combined with a Socratic Method teaching style which enables students to have discussions about academic content based on their experiences in and out of class. Lab equipment will allow for experiences that will lead to deeper discussions, higher levels of thinking, and consequently higher student achievement in science.
• Montessori Day School Lakeshore (Chandler) – $5,000. 3rd-6th grade students at the Montessori Day School will participate in a semester-long unit on Latin America that relies heavily on the use of iPads, which will enhance students' knowledge and skills related to science, math and technology. SRP funds will specifically provide materials for two units: "Amazon Rainforest Tour" and "Facts and Fractions". iPads purchased with grant funds will enable research on rainforest animals so that students can make a Field Guide to post on a class wiki. They will further assist by providing fraction practice using some of the educational apps available.
• NFL YET College Preparatory Academy (Phoenix) – $5,000. Students at the NFL YET College Prep Academy will have the opportunity to learn about solar power first hand with a new solar array which will be assembled, installed, and monitored by the high school science students. Solar energy kits will also be made available to students and teachers in grades 3rd-8th so they can share the hands-on experience. Teachers will also all be trained in how to read and use data streaming from the school's new solar array to use in mathematics lessons.
• Payson High School (Payson) – $5,000. Water is a precious resource in Arizona and adequate, clean sources of water are critical to ensuring the health of our citizens and the environment. The goal of this project at Payson High School is to promote the awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of water resources by performing water quality assessments and riparian area study on the East Verde River. The information gathered will then be analyzed by students to make generalizations about the stream and ecosystem health. Roughly 100-160 students in grades 7-12 will participate in the data collection and analysis including conducting basic water quality tests, collecting and identifying aquatic microorganisms and macroinvertebrates, and identifying impacts to the riparian area due to man, livestock, or other factors.
• Pendergast Elementary School (Phoenix) – $4,658. All 3rd-6th grade students at Pendergast Elementary School will benefit from an Inquiry-Based Science program that will be made possible with funds from SRP. These funds will be used to purchase science lab materials, which will be used to support the science curriculum with hands-on experiments and projects. Materials such as hand-held microscopes, crank generators, magnets, electricity and physics kits, and a telescope will enable students to experience science content in a way they previously have been unable to do.
• Rimrock High School (Rimrock) – $3,000. Students at Rimrock High School already get to enjoy a "Green Team" riparian ecosystem project that applies science content to field experiences at local streams. The next phase of the project will be to use SRP funds to build a greenhouse as a living learning lab for real world applications of science concepts they are learning in the classroom and the field. Students will study Biological, Ecological, and Chemical/Physical aspects of growing food and eventually selling it at a local Farmer's Market.
• Round Valley Middle School (Springerville) – $5,000. Round Valley Middle School will create a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) club that will include four unique project topics: Aeronautics, Gardening, Geography using GPS systems, and Web Publishing. In the aeronautics portion, students will design balsa wood planes while during the gardening unit, students will construct a school vegetable garden. Students will study the volcanic fields in Springerville using GPS devices and for the web publishing component will gather and publish their photos and experiences from the club on a website.
• Santan Christian Academy (Chandler) – $5,000. Students at Santan Christian Academy will benefit from an integrated science curriculum lab for the sixth graders, a space and earth science lab for the seventh graders, and a life science lab for the eighth graders. Grant funds will purchase lab equipment for these three specific lab experiences which will enable students to learn in an inquiry-based environment. The inquiry labs will teach critical thinking, problem-solving, and how to use science process skills.
• Santan Junior High (Chandler) – $4,989. Through the Stormbots class for 7th and 8th graders and Santan Junior High, students will work in FIRST Lego League teams to learn about the science behind the year's challenge theme and better understand careers related to that field. Teams will be presented with challenges similar to those encountered by scientists and engineers as they identify the problem and create innovative and adaptive solutions. Students will be working with two robotics engineers from GM to learn about engineering as it applies to real-world situations and career fields.
• Settler's Point Elementary (Gilbert) – $5,000. The implementation of a STEM science and math resource lab at Settler's Point Elementary School will provide students in grades K-6 the opportunity to explore science and math concepts above and beyond what is available in their classrooms. The math and science lab will contain valuable hands-on manipulatives and interactive resources that will allow students the opportunity to explore their interest in math and science and develop a basic foundation that can be built upon throughout their life. The science and math resources will also be used by the after-school STEM science club and during the annual Family Science Night.
• Sheely Farms Elementary School (Phoenix) – $4,865 3rd and 4th grade students at Sheely Farms Elementary school will benefit from new science equipment and iPod touch systems to make science come alive. Through the use of iPods and hands on science equipment, students will be able to gain real world experiences that will help them make connections between their learning and their experiences both in and out of school. FOSS kits for 'Electricity and Magnetism' and 'Water' will enable students to participate in engaging and intellectually stimulating activities while at the same time learning key concepts for their scientific literacy.
• Xavier College Preparatory (Phoenix) – $4,963. Women have traditionally been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the university level and beyond. As a high school dedicated to the education of young women, Xavier College Preparatory will continue to address this issue by engaging students in the Engineering Projects in Community Service program. This problem-based, service-learning model engages students in STEM through real-world projects to improve the lives of others. Projects for non-profit community organizations introduce the students to engineering design, providing opportunities to apply math and science concepts while improving technology and communication skills.

Find out more

For information about how to apply for a Learning Grant by SRP, please visit our Learning Grant page, or call (602) 236-2484.

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