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SEND 4 COPIES OF YOUR COMPLETED APPLICATION POSTMARKED BY SEPTEMBER 27, 2008 to:
The Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation
1024 Wheatland Ave.
Lancaster, PA 17603
To Apply:
In addition your application should provide the following information:
1. An application form is required and can be downloaded here.
2. A proposal that indicate the focus, mission, and/or philosophy of the curriculum. Include the following sections:
Project Description:
What do you plan to do and to accomplish?
What grades/ages are involved?
Where will this work occur?
Rationale:
Why is your project important?
Goals and Objectives:
Be specific and try to avoid vague and jargon-filled descriptions
Methods:
How will the project be conducted?
Impacts:
What areas of content will your curriculum address?
Are there broader community impacts?
Evaluation:
How will you assess you have met your goals and objectives?
3. A budget. We give grants of up to $1500. If the MGAEF contribution will be part of a larger requirement, include the
total budget of the project indicating what our funds will support).
If your total budget exceeds $1500, as many projects do, it is important to:
(1)
State whether you have obtained or applied for additional funds
(2) Give an honest appraisal of whether the project can succeed without
these additional funds but with our $1500 grant.
4. A letter of endorsement from the science supervisor and principal of the school involved.
If other partners are involved, letters from these sources are requested.
5. A timetable of when work will be conducted and completed.
6. Resumés of all individuals involved.
7. A
stated understanding that the Foundation will require a progress report, with the preferred product the curriculum itself.
Pool of eligibility:
Consideration for funds from The
Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation is available to everyone
regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, age, handicap,
or sexual orientation.
Past Recipients
2007
P.E.A.C.E., Bangladesh
This
wonderful project is the design of a former Peace Corps volunteer in
Bangladesh. She has returned to work with local teachers to
develop and implement an environmental curriculum based around
conserving endangered primates in Bangladesh. She spent the summer there with great success!
Secondary School for Law, Brooklyn, New York
This project allows
high school students at an NYC magnet school to examine the problem of
lead poisoning from a variety of disciplines. Students will collect
paint and water samples and compare these to socio-economic data. This
innovative project integrates both the scientific and social aspects of
an environmental concern.
Global Environmental Teachings Program, Stevens Point, WI
Teachers in Stevens
Point have partnered with a school in Puerto Rico to link their
teaching. They use the example of migratory birds to show the
interconnection between their two communities. Our funds will purchase
equipment for the teachers in Puerto Rico to allow for better
integration.
2006
L.I.F.E. School, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
Our funds will support a long-term stream monitoring program described by the applicants as: “The
purpose of this project is to teach children in the Lake Atitlán
region of Guatemala to analyze the water quality of local streams
through the collection of macroinvertebrates.” We particularly
liked that the project was integrated into the classroom curriculum and included a strong hypothesis testing and experimental design component.
Cameron, West Virginia
Continuing with the
stream-monitoring theme, we funded a project intended to assess factors
affecting stream health in nearby streams. Again, we were impressed
with integration of the field research into the overall curriculum and the very strong hypothesis testing aspect.
2005:
Trees for Life, Gimomoi Youth
Polytechnic, Kenya
Our funds will support a
community-based agroforestry project run by the local school. The
students will design and build the tree nursery and then work with
local farmers and landowners to plant trees for food, forage and
erosion control. We are particularly excited about this project because
of Melinda's service with US Peace Corps in Kenya. We thank ICRAF for
assisting us with making this grant possible. Photos available here.
Butler Elementary School, Avon, MA
Our funds will provide 6th grade
students an opportunity to engage in an authentic wetland assessement
and management project. They will use a Rapid Asssessment approach to
characterize the condition of freshwater wetlands near their school.
They will use GIS and field techniques to develop simple research
projects to monitor local water quality.
2004:
Juan Fernandez Islands Conservancy. Seattle, WA
Our funds will support environmental education in the Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile, in South America. The Juan Fernandez Islands Conservancy
addresses conservation issues on many levels and our support will
directly support the work of local educators in conducting local-based
programs to increase awareness of the terrestrial and marine
environments.
2003:
Highland Central School. Warrenton, VA
Our funds will support the "Hawks Get Wet" project at Highland School.
Students will be doing local-based monitoring and surveying to compare
how well replicated wetlands maintain function and support species
relative to natural wetland areas. In addition to surveying local
critters, they will also design and conduct experiments and utilize
this system to better learn basic biology and the process of conducting
research.
2002:
Telluride Institute, Telluride, CO
Our funds will support the San Miguel Watershed Education Project of the Telluride Institute.
We will help develop and implement curriculum packets associated with
the ecology and conservation of the San Miguel River in southwestern
Colorado. This project is intended to build links between the local
ecology and scientific concepts.
2001:
Clarence Central School District, Clarence, NY
Our funds went
directly to the school district to develop environmental curricula
associated with a newly established nature center: the Clarence
Interpretive Conservation Demonstration and Education Center. This
57-acre woodland retreat is located near all District schools and is
intended to serve as a living laboratory for science classes. We
supported initial teacher workshops for a team of teachers to begin
preliminary curriculum to integrate the Center into the science
standards.
William Newman and Heather Perretta, Poland Central Schools, Poland, NY
These teachers
will take a small group of students from rural Poland and urban Proctor
schools into the Adirondacks mountains to teach scientific design and
inquiry associated with factors affecting stream quality. The students
themselves will develop a module to take back to larger classrooms to
teach others how humans can impact aquatic ecosystems. Our funds went
directly for curriculum development.
2000:
Tom Conrad and Elizabeth Frey, Scarsdale, NY, Long Island Sound Project
The Long Island
Sound Project is an interdisciplinary unit combining science and public
policy. Students developed independent projects that incorporated
scientific research and management recommendations while working with
local nonprofit environmental groups. Our funds supported curriculum
development.
1999:
James Gardineer and Joseph Saccone, Mahopac, NY, Mahopac Middle School Nature Trail Project.
Our funds will
support both curriculum development and the purchase of materials to
design and construct an interpretive nature trail in Mahopac in Putnam
County, NY. It is an interdisciplinary project incorporating natural
sciences, environmental interpretation, and technology. The teachers
will design a nature trail and create a curriculum that stresses basic
scientific principles and stewardship. Students will develop the trail
guide and other interpretive materials such as a web site and will
design and build an information kiosk (built in part with our funds).
The nature trail will be open to the public and will be utilized by
over 4000 students.
Paul Scott and Paul Favata, Niskayuna, NY, Student Projects in Environmental Issues.
Our funds will
support the purchase of equipment needed to implement a
project-oriented environmental science curriculum in Niskayuna in
Albany County, NY. Through four field and classroom-based projects,
students learn how to frame scientific questions, collect pertinent
data, and analyze and disseminate their results. The four projects are
(1) wetlands and watershed monitoring, (2) an old-growth forest survey,
(3) bat conservation and habitat selection through bat house
construction, and(4) a community light pollution survey. All four
projects address real scientific questions and conservation issues and
involve the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS). Our funds
will be used to purchase the needed software.
1998:
Scott Jordan and Nancy Sampson, Cuba, NY, Cuba-Rushford Central School Ecosystem Project.
The Ecosystem
Project teaches principles of aquatic science and builds hands-on
skills through the process of raising trout from fry to a releasable
size in an integrated pond, spawning stream and fish hatchery system
constructed next to the school. Our funds supported curriculum
development associated with the project. They recently received a
$40,000 Educational Excellence grant from the Regional Planning and
Development Company to develop a remote data-collection system. The
computer-linked set of probes will collect data on baseline conditions
Students at Cuba-Rushford and across the world via the internet will be
able to access information on such variables as pH, dissolved oxygen,
and pond turnover.
1997:
Rosemary Catlin and Kathleen Galvani, Brockport Central Schools, Brockport, NY. Integrating art and natural history.
We provided funds
to help develop the Robert A. Ellis Nature Trail, a nature trail next
to the high school in Brockport. Previous to applying, Ms. Catlin, a
art teacher, and Ms. Galvani, a science teacher, had developed a
curriculum that integrated natural history observation and scientific
methodology through field-based drawing and journals. Students learn by
patiently observing nature and record their observations through
sketches, drawings, and journal entries. Our funds were used to
purchase interpretive sign markers and produce pamphlets associated
with the nature trail.
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