COE’s Greer awarded $15k grant for teacher development
Kania Greer, Ed.D., coordinator of the College of Education’s Center for STEM Education, is the principal investigator on a grant partnering with Evans County to assist 5th grade teachers with the classification of organisms through hands-on collections.
The project, totaling $15,000, was awarded from the FY22 Rural Education Innovation STEM/STEAM Grant from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) which is a one-year, non-renewable grant used to start or supplement existing STEM/STEAM programs and activities that focus on community and industry partnerships with schools in rural counties within First District and Southwest Georgia RESA regions.
Greer is coordinating development experiences with the elementary science educators and Georgia Southern faculty experts focusing on vertebrates and invertebrate taxonomy, an area of need for the district’s science teaching practices.
Teachers participating in the program have began work with College of Science and Mathematics (COSM) faculty members Steve Vives, Ph.D., Michelle Cawthorn, Ph.D., Lissa Leege, Ph.D., and Kelly Cronin, Ph.D., to discuss plants, birds, fishes, vertebrates and invertebrates. Additionally, Stephanie Luiowski, curator of education at the Georgia Southern Museum, assisted with paleontology of vertebrates with the educators.
Greer will continue to work with the 5th grade teachers to hone their craft using claim-evidence-reasoning skills as well as developing curriculum and lesson plans that the educators can use moving forward from the program.
In the fall, the teachers will participate in internships at Georgia Southern Museum, Center for Wildlife Education, Botanic Gardens, and Herpetology Collection Center to enhance their curricular knowledge.
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