School districts in Guernsey, Monroe, and Noble counties receive STEM-related mini grants

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics mini grants were recently awarded to school districts in Guernsey and Noble counties.

Public school educators were invited to apply for these grants to implement enhanced STEM-based learning materials, opportunities, and experiences. A partnership between Southwestern Energy and the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio awarded more than $7,000 in grants.

The eleven grant recipients are as follows:

Caldwell Exempt Village School District

• A grant to support the STEM Based Learning and Career Technical Education in Caldwell Elementary project. Materials, including microscopes, slides, and a document camera, will enhance Agriscience and STEM education, as well as career technical classes.

Cambridge City Schools

• A grant to support the Challenging Minds with Vex IQ project. The grant will be used to purchase a VEX IQ Challenge Field for students to build and test robotics. Teams will be created to compete in the Robot Skills Challenge, where one robot takes the field to score as many points as possible.

• A grant to support the Hands-On Coding project. This activity will teach students about writing and debugging code through the Engineering Design Process as they learn the value of rethinking and multiple solutions.

• A grant to support the science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics for a kindergarten project. The grant will be used for related activities during open-ended playtime each day, including activities such as building bridges to help students discover how to solve the problem of weak bridges by choosing different materials and creating support structures.

East Guernsey Schools

• A grant to support the Tool Usage and Identification project. This project will supply tools to third-grade students who are interested in investigating vehicle parts, including the engine, transmission, and rear of a Ford Expedition.

• A grant to support the Tumbling Towards Tomorrow’s Technology project. This project will teach a small group of current and potentially gifted students the principles of coding in a hands-on, screen-free way with six Turing Tumble marble-powered computers.

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Noble Local School District

• A grant to support the Ensuring Water Quality project. This project will allow students to monitor water quality and the impact of agricultural run-off from Green Acres, the district’s livestock farm. The school district will purchase materials to monitor the stream that runs outside the school building.

• A grant to support the Medical Pathway Clinic Classroom Renovation project. This project will provide visual aids and medical materials for students participating in the Medical Pathway program at Noble Local School District in collaboration with Zane State College.

• A grant to support the Mobile Maker Lab Expands STEM Across Elementary project. This project will develop a mobile maker lab with a rolling tool cabinet to give students more access to a STEM Lab. The school district will purchase a rolling steel cart, tools, and safety equipment for students in the primary and upper elementary levels.

• A grant to support the Programming for House Points project. The House Points program at Shenandoah Elementary groups students into teams to earn points schoolwide for positive behavior and achievements. The school district will purchase Spheros Robots for children to code for tasks such as completing mazes and races.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Science in education: Local schools receive STEM-related mini grants