NEWS

UNC-CH wins lion's share of grants to enhance math, science teaching

By LAURA J. TOLER
UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will receive nearly a third of more than $1 million in federal education money for enhancing grade-school math and science teaching.

The money, allocated today (Nov. 14) by the UNC Board of Governors, will fund such projects as connecting Durham elementary teachers to GLOBE, a federally supported environmental education program in which students around the world exchange local environmental data.

Another will let middle and high school teachers in Chowan and Currituck counties use the 16-inch telescope of the Morehead Observatory at UNC-CH in instruction, controlling the telescope and making observations over the Internet.

In all, eight projects were funded at UNC-CH. Five of them will be in the Triangle and three in northeastern and southeastern corners of the state. UNC-CH's physics and astronomy department will administer the Morehead project. The other seven will be handled by the Center for Mathematics and Science Education in the School of Education. UNC-CH faculty and graduate students designed and will carry out all eight.

“The UNC-CH faculty has won a huge amount of money to do a lot of good work,” center director Dr. Russ Rowlett said. “The purpose of this money is to make math and science teachers better teachers.”

The grants are funded by the federal Eisenhower Higher Education Program. Congress appropriates the money annually to states based on school population. Some goes directly to grade schools and the rest to higher education. In North Carolina, the higher education money goes to the Board of Governors, which oversees 16 UNC campuses.

The board assigns the state's Math and Science Education Network (MSEN), based on the UNC-CH campus, to handle competition for the money. All N.C. colleges, community colleges and universities may apply for grants for teacher professional development in science and math. MSEN recommends grant winners to the board.

Of the seven grants to UNC-CH's center, each is worth $30,000 except the GLOBE grant, which is $30,000 for each of three years, for a total of $90,000. The Morehead Observatory grant to physics and astronomy is $30,000. Other center projects will be:

• Fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in Columbus County will learn about spread sheets and other technology tools for analyzing data; integrating math with language arts and social studies; and fostering parental involvement, all at a two-week summer institute and six half-day follow-up sessions in 1998-99. Each participant will receive $660 in instructional materials.
• Third- through eighth-grade teachers in Chatham and Wake counties will learn to create classroom technology work stations during a two-week summer institute and two day-long follow-up sessions. Topics will include class World Wide Web pages, video and audio editing and teaching with the Internet. Each participant will receive $475 in software and materials.
• Middle school teachers in Durham and Franklin counties will learn to enhance math teaching with tools including computers and calculators during a two-week institute and two day-long follow-up sessions during 1998-99. Participants will receive about $420 in materials.
• Entire faculties of six schools in Elizabeth City/Pasquotank, Gates and Hyde county schools, all K-5 teachers, will attend one-week summer workshops for developing and implementing school improvement plans for math instruction, a 1998-99 project with follow-up to the workshops.
• Third- through eighth-grade teachers in Alamance, Caswell and Chatham counties will learn to use technology in teaching math and science. Tools will include e-mail, the World Wide Web, digital video, spread sheets, data bases, CD-ROMs, laser disks and multimedia presentations. The program will use materials designed to help teachers overcome bias in instruction and improve performance of female and minority students. Participants will receive $365 in software and materials.
• Third- through eighth-grade teachers in Chatham County, where Hispanic student populations are growing rapidly, will learn to use Spanish versions of the Family Math and Family Science materials. The center has sponsored many Family Math and Family Science projects; this will be the first one in Spanish. The project includes a two-week summer institute and three day-long follow-up sessions during 1998-99.

For more information about these projects, call Dr. Russ Rowlett, Center for Mathematics and Science Education director, at 919-966-5922.

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Print contact: Laura J. Toler, 919-962-8589

Broadcast contact: Karen Moon, 919-962-8595