Social Studies Grants by SRP
Social Studies Grants by SRP is a new program being offered to Arizona teachers of students grades K-12 for the enrichment and enhancement of classroom instruction. Grants will be awarded to help educators present academic content and teach skills in the interrelated disciplines of history, geography, civics, government, and economics.
These grants support the five strands of the Arizona Social Studies Academic Standards. Standards require that students learn essential facts, concepts, people and events, and develop reasoning, inquiry, critical thinking and research skills while applying other articulated skills such as reading, writing, math and science.
The total amount of this grant program is $20,000 during this year. Up to $2,000 may be awarded to any one project. There is no minimum.
Public and private, nonprofit schools, kindergarten through grade 12, are eligible for Social Studies Grants by SRP. All educators in Metropolitan Phoenix, Pinal County, Gila County, Yavapai County, Page and St. Johns are eligible to apply.
SRP makes no distinction between public and charter schools. Nonprofit private school educators have exactly the same chance to receive grants, but must refer to state mandated competencies in social studies.
The application deadline has passed for the 2009-2010 academic year. Please check back to this page in fall 2009 for information on how to apply for the 2010-11 year.
- Project activities and teaching strategies should represent inquiry based teaching and learning.
- Projects should be designed to encourage students to develop understanding of concepts from the social science disciplines in order to communicate their ideas in a variety of formats: spoken, written, graphic, statistical, and/or electronic.
- Projects should enable students to become involved in exploring a range of options such as information technology, primary source material, community resources and local organizations, oral histories and interpretative centers as well as traditional resources, to develop their skills.
Social studies also can provide students with the skills for productive problem solving and decision making, as well as for assessing issues and making thoughtful value judgments. Above all, the social studies help students to integrate these skills and understandings into a framework for responsible citizen participation, whether in their play group, the school, the community or the world.
Sample activities and projects for which Social Studies Grants by SRP could be used to fund include:
- Chautauquans - Scholars assume the roles of significant figures from the past, including wearing period clothing. They present as the historical character and answer question's from that character's perspective; then conclude by "re-assuming" their identity and taking questions as themselves to provide scholarly context and insight.
- Book discussions - An author or editor is available to speak with students about a book, topic or magazine.
- Materials - DVDs, relief maps and globes could be bought to teach a family history project that would entail using a map to offer background on a family heritage.
- Field trip - Units of study could be illustrated/augmented with trips to museums and/or historical societies.
- Workshops - A number of museums and historical societies offer classes and workshops based on specific topics; preferred ones provide lesson plans and classroom resources.
- Oral history projects - Students can preserve history by interviewing and recording the stories of those who participated.
- Museum youth curator experiences - Students can research, design, construct and install an exhibit at a museum or historical society.
- Project proposal abstract - a 50-150 word abstract summarizing the project and indicating how it represents an engaging approach to social studies education.
- Project objectives - What opportunity or need exists in your school environment? How will SRP's grant dollars fulfill the needs or opportunity identified in your project proposal?
- Project activities/timeline - Describe the components, activities and goals or your proposed project. What is the timeline for the project?
- Student impact - What is the potential number of students positively impacted by the project/program? What grade levels will benefit?
- Budget - How will the grant be spent? What will individual components of the program cost? Materials? Staff? Are you seeking financing from additional sources? Please itemize expenditures. Not more than 35% of the budget should be utilized for travel or stipends.
- Evaluation process - How do you plan to evaluate the relative success of the project?
Schools that receive grants are required to deliver a financial report and objective results summary at the end of the grant year. The report must state how the grant funds were used.
In the report, the grant recipients must evaluate the success of the project. Were goals and objectives met? How were students impacted and how many students were impacted?
The report is due June 5, 2009. If the entire grant amount has not be expended by this time, please explain why not, and how the remaining portion of the grant will be used in the future.
You can view a list of 2009-10 Social Studies Grants recipients for reference about programs selected for funding during 2009-10.
If you have questions about Social Studies Grants by SRP, please call (602) 236-2235 or send and e-mail to educate@srpnet.com.
Check out these helpful grant-writing tips.