The Grant that Keeps Giving
This is one grant with lots of staying power. Three years ago, Maryann Daly penned an application and filed it with the Huntington Foundation for Excellence in Education. Some time later, the group told the SEARCH program teacher her “Science Connections” proposal was a go, to the tune of $11,400.
“It was my hope to purchase the technology which would afford us the ability to use video-conferencing in our district,” explained Mrs. Daly, who also chairs the Huntington School District’s SEARCH program. “This grant enabled every fifth and sixth grade class to connect to the New York Hall of Science through a virtual visit.”
The technology was recently used by Christine Amodeo, library media specialist at Woodhull Intermediate School, for a pair of virtual visits that fascinated students. First she prepared the youngsters with a variety of pre-visit lessons. Then the fifth graders participated in a visit called “Sports Challenge in the Physical Word” and sixth graders took part in the “Mathematica – Beyond the Numbers” program.
“Math is not just defined by numbers,” according to a description of the Mathematica program by the New York Hall of Science. “It also involves patterns and relationships. Math is also considered the ‘mother of all sciences’ and is heavily used in physics, chemistry and biology.” The program brought the Woodhull students into hands-on contact with an assortment of activities that touched on topology, probability, and chirality.
The Woodhull fifth graders explored the various physical properties involved in athletics by tackling several table top experiments and interacting with New York Hall of Science exhibits and staff. The youngsters studied how a bouncing ball’s mechanics change depending on the surface, muscle memory, the fastest traveling balls and more.
The video-conferencing equipment funded by the Huntington Foundation grant gave the Woodhull students an opportunity to participate in a very unique learning experience – a live interaction between them and New York Hall of Science staff via a polycom video system. The link enabled the youngsters to learn more about math and science in a thoroughly untraditional manner.
“It was incredible to see the excitement of the students as they participated in their video-conference session,” Ms. Amodeo said. “Even more exciting was watching them prepare for the next segment of this workshop.”
The two virtual visits included time set aside for students to engage in an assortment of hands-on activities. Sixth graders created their own moebius band and fifth graders tested their reaction times and experimented with the concepts of weight and balance.
The second part of the Mathematica unit saw sixth graders working in small groups to create their own game show. The youngsters had to think about the concept of probability and explain how it might affect their game show. Fifth grade groups are currently working on creating their own sports in a zero-gravity environment.
Huntington’s libraries are no longer simply places where books are stored and checked out. More video-conferencing workshops with the New York Hall of Science are being planned for next year at both Woodhull and Jack Abrams Intermediate School.
“These truly were enrichment classes at their very best,” Ms. Amodeo said.
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