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 $28,500 from Dart Foundation — Grant to Help Students in Heredity Project
by Towne Courier/LSJ Media EAST LANSING, MI – East Lansing’s MacDonald Middle School has received a $28,500 grant from The Dart Foundation to purchase laptop computers that will enable 7th graders to participate in a collaborative science project on heredity. The Dart Foundation grant helps East Lansing Public Schools meet the optimum technology requirements of a multi-year National Science Foundation and Michigan State University partnership to study how students learn about science. "Not so long ago," explains MacDonald Principal Cliff Seybert, "our children grew string beans in little plastic cups and watched them grow as part of their scientific inquiry. They predicted and measured the growth rate over time, recorded it, and collected other data points along the way, all in an effort to develop their understanding of the scientific method. "These simple beginnings now stand in the shadow of an evolving scientific understanding by our students. A more sophisticated scientific understanding – attributable to students’ use of lap top computers, the world-wide-web, and our WISE project (Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment) – is upon us." This Dart Foundation grant literally moves us from watching beans grow to engaging in scientific inquiry in real time. Jim Lammers, Vice President of Dart Foundation, believes the grant was a natural fit for the foundation as "it meets our interests in science, in this middle school age group, and in encouraging collaboration in K–12 education." East Lansing students across grades 5–7 learn about cells, heredity and ecosystems during their three years in the program. The curriculum uses Internet resources and was designed specifically for East Lansing by an advisory group made up of MSU professors and ELPS teachers.  Courtesy Photo
Macdonald Middle School students (l to r) Christopher McClendon, Anna Cleary, Hannah Pettibone, Dana Berg, Faymous Tyra cheer their Dart Foundation grant for laptops. Presenting and accepting the Big Check are Dart Foundation Vice President Jim Lammers, Science Department Chair and 7th grade science teacher Teena Snyder, Principal Cliff Seybert, and Associate Principal Merem Frierson."We thank the Dart Foundation for their generous gift, which will enable MacDonald Middle School and East Lansing Public Schools to expand this educational opportunity in collaboration with Michigan State University’s College of Education in determining how students learn best." The Dart Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1984 by William A. and Claire T. Dart and based in Mason, Michigan. |
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