Teachers with ideas on STEM education in the classroom are encouraged to apply.
Frederick, Md (KM). For the second year in a row, the Battelle National Biodefense Institute is providing $50,000 in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) challenge grants to Frederick County Public School Teachers. “We’re asking teachers across the county, any teacher who wants to do something interesting, innovative in the field of STEM–science, technology, engineering and math–to put together a grant proposal, submit and we’ll see what happens,” says FCPS spokesman Michael Doerrer.
The amount of the grants is up to $5,000, according to a news release from the Public School System.
The deadline to apply is April 25th. The winners will be announced during the May 22nd Board of Education meeting. “BNBI is also offering a grant writing seminar that’s going be webcasted to help insure that every teacher has the opportunity to capture their best ideas and complete grant proposals,” says Doerrer.
He says this competition for grants isn’t restricted to math and science teachers. “A lot of our teachers in our schools are doing innovative things that cut across the curriculum. So you have English teachers and social studies teachers who are also integrating STEM in their classrooms,” says Doerrer.
In 2018, Frederick County Public School teachers submitted 28 STEM grant proposals. 13 winning proposal came back from 12 schools: Ballenger Creek Elementary and Ballenger Creek Middle Schools; Brunswick Middle, Butterfly Ridge Elementary, Emmtsburg Elementary, Frederick High, Governor Thomas Johnson High, Linganore High, Middletown Elementary, Middletown Middle and Middletown Primary Schools; Myersville Elementary School, and two from Orchard Grove Elementary School.
The partnership between the Battelle National Biodefense Institute and the Frederick County Public School System was established in 2009 with the goal of getting more students interested in and better prepared to major in math, the hard sciences and engineering in college. Since it began, BNBI has directly awarded $443,000 to the local public school system. BNBI staff has also worked with FCPS assisting with curricula development, classroom instruction and STEM activities outside of the classroom.
The Battelle National Biodefense Institute, LLC is a non-profit company in Maryland. It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of Battelle. Since 2006, it has operated the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center located at Fort Detrick.
By Kevin McManus