Teachers or administrators in Ohio: Apply now for a $2,500-$5,000 grant to further STEM learning! Applications are due December 2.
Battelle funded this new program from the Ohio STEM Learning Network as a part of the non-profit research institute’s commitment to expanding high quality STEM education to all students.
Completing the grant application should take about 20 minutes. However, if you’re stuck, we can help. Here are three simple sample projects to help envision what would help you take STEM even farther in your school or classroom.
For all the details on the grant, including frequently asked questions, visit STEM Classroom Grant Program page on OSLN.org.
Apply here
Example Project: No Dirt, No Problem! School-wide STEM Vertical Gardening
Level: Elementary, Focus: Community Problem Solving
Short description: For this project, students research, design, and launch a plan to grow crops without soil. Students help develop an edible community garden and utilize an automatic vertical hydroponic system. They work together to investigate, create, and communicate ideas related to the topic of food security for our community and state. Through an outdoor classroom, students learn about innovations and agricultural concepts that span across math, science, art, health, social studies, and technology. Throughout the project, students monitor, compare, measure, test, and alter the conditions to best support the plants. These new outdoor skills can be taken home to their families and they strengthen the relationship between the school and community.
Example Project: River Water Study
Level: High School, Focus: STEM Career Exploration
Short description: This project provides the tools for the High School’s Ecology class to conduct a semester-long study of the water quality in the Sequatchie River. Four sites are utilized along the river: two upstream and two downstream of the sewage treatment plant. Students test for nitrates, phosphates, silica and pH. Carbon dioxide, water hardness and dissolved oxygen are also studied, in addition to a test for bacterial (coliform) pollution.
The students also collect and identify micro and macro invertebrates in the river. This project allows students to explore the work of an ecologist while discovering the value of macro invertebrates as living indicators of water quality. The data collected is then analyzed by the students at the end of the semester, and the students create videos and presentations to showcase their testing and findings.
Example Project: Pedal Power!
Level: Middle School, Focus: Design Thinking and Infrastructure
Short description: This project is designed to motivate students to exercise while teaching them concepts in STEM. The project allows students to collaboratively design bicycles that can create and capture electricity into a usable power source. Lessons include electricity, sustainable energy sources, technology, engineering, design and various math concepts. The students are able to take a battery pack that is empty and, by riding the bicycles they built, produce electricity to recharge the battery. The project collaborates with teachers in subjects across the curriculum including P.E., science, math and physics.
Need additional support with understanding infrastructure? This is the focus of this year’s OSLN Design Challenge. You can learn more about infrastructure and design by visiting our website at: https://designchallenge.osln.org/infrastructure/