Example Type II Seed Grant Proposal

How long will your project last? One Semester  

Will your one semester project be repeated during the second semester? Yes  

When will your project start? October 2016  

When will you project end? December 2016  

When is the best month for your STEDTRAIN Point of Contact (POC) to make an initial with visit you, your class, and the principal? Additional visits may be scheduled at that time. November 2016

When will your project start the second time? January 2017  

When will you project end the second time? May 2016  

When is the best month for your STEDTRAIN Point of Contact (POC) to make an initial with visit you, your class, and the principal for the repeated project? Additional visits may be scheduled at that time. March 2016

1. Statement of Project - Program Objective(s)
The primary objective of this grant is a long term water monitoring project of Test Creek. Students will utilize probeware to collect data about the concentration of dissolved oxygen, temperature, and pH levels of the creek. Through this Students will be exposed to the testing and activities of environmental specialists and introduced to the career field. The Outdoor Classroom will permit each student to fully participate in the data collects, instrumentation, analysis, research, peer collaborating, peer mentoring, presentation composition and presenting. Students will thus learn not only by doing but also by peer teaching. The program will culminate in students developing plans to correct water quality issues found through creek testing. As well as exposing students to professional Environmental Engineers and understanding how these tests translate to real world careers.
 

2. STEM Implications
o During the project, students will utilize a LabQuest 2 interface and a variety of probeware to collect and analyze data from the outdoor classroom. o Long term water monitoring project of Test Creek is a new project here at STEDTRAIN Middle. o Through this project students will be exposed to the testing and activities of environmental specialists and introduced to the career field. This project hopes to spark a student's interest is the field. a.i. Students will utilize probeware to collect data about the concentration of dissolved oxygen, temperature, and pH levels of the creek. This will require drawing of samples of testing using equipment purchased through this grant. a.ii. Students will learn the measurements used to quantify water quality and eventually students will be able to compare data from previous months to current data to determine the water quality conditions over time. a.iii. A final part of this project will be utilizing the data collects and research methods used to treat water systems for pollutants found. These final projects will teach the students how the data taken throughout the year will be combined to understand harmful effects on the water system. a.iv. Students will be required to work in groups of 4 and present group results and recommendations for potential corrective actions that could be taken to correct any adverse results.

1. Students will utilize probeware to collect data about the concentration of dissolved oxygen, temperature, and pH levels of the creek. This will require drawing of samples of testing using equipment purchased through this grant. 2. Students will learn the measurements used to quantify water quality and eventually students will be able to compare data from previous months to current data to determine the water quality conditions over time. 3. A final part of this project will be utilizing the data collects and research methods used to treat water systems for pollutants found. These final projects will teach the students how the data taken throughout the year will be combined to understand harmful effects on the water system. 4. a. Students will be required to work in groups of 4 and present group results and recommendations. b. Students will be required to work in groups of 4 and present group results and recommendations. c.i. Yes, 5-years with minimal replacement materials being needed. c.ii. Yes, the process and results could easily be presented to other environmental science teachers and easily recreated at other schools as indicated in Section 5.B.

1. o Final presentation will require students to develop their own solutions to problems found through the testing phase of the project. This solutions will require the students to apply what they have learned to a new problem. o The overall goal of the program is to connect classroom lessons to real world work, through this effort our desire is to help students understand that classroom lessons apply directly to real life and through that we hope to spark a love for STEM and a desire to learn more. o Similar to the previous question, the overall goal of the program is to connect classroom lessons to real world work. This connection will show students that school lessons prepare them for careers and develop skills that apply directly to life. 2. This program will introduce students to local environmental engineers who will explain how their current jobs use the skills being taught in this proposal. This will show students a real connection between the classroom and the real world. 3. This program teaches water quality testing, which is unavailable anywhere else in their current curriculum, the goal is that by exposing students to new skills a desire for a STEM career will be cultivated. 4. With success of this program, there is a desire to develop similar projects that will tie real world professionals to classroom projects. Our desire is to expose our students to a variety of careers throughout their time with us at STEDTRAIN MS. With the success of this program the greater plan can be implemented. 5. If time permits our MS students will show the adjacent Elementary School students their project. The desire is generate an early interest in our STEM exposure program that can grow from this proposal. 6. Our current program shows a concrete example of how science lessons are uses in a career. It is our hope that by connecting the classroom to a career the project will enhance students drive to excel in their other classroom work. 7. The local chapter of the Environmental Engineers Association will donate $1500 toward this grant and provide the experienced professionals as consultants and to teach the class how their work relates to the real world.

Any items purchased with STEDTRAIN Seed Grant funds that are not consumed during their use and which retain their original usefulness, identity, and characteristics during their useful life. Examples include: weather station, robotic controller, electronic items, microscopes, manipulatives, copyable lesson exercises, and similar items.

Note: The status of all non-expendable items must be reported annually for 5 years.