Texas Tech Receives $2.7 Million Grant From National Science Foundation

Texas Tech University will receive $2.7 million from the National Science Foundation to help area schoolchildren understand the connection between math and science. The $2.7 million grant, one of 26 awarded nationally, will pay for the Building Bridges: Integrating Math, Science and Engineering Education on the South Plains program. This initiative seeks to bridge the importance of learning math for its practical application in science for children in elementary through high school. "This program stems from a need we saw years ago," said Dominick Casadonte, chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and lead investigator for the program. "When kids in junior high and high school learn math, they always ask, ‘what do I need this for?' Kids don't know how to apply math to science so we thought, ‘wouldn't it be neat to show them how math and science really work together?'" Texas Tech's program will join about 150 across the country, unlike other programs, ours includes a multidisciplinary approach to teaching math, science and engineering Casadonte said. The money will provide $30,000 stipends for eight to 10 graduate students per year in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, in exchange for participation in two summer institutes and 15 hours per week service working with area high school math and science teachers. These graduate students will work with math and science teachers from area schools during the summer to develop curriculum, then apply these lessons the next school year. The graduate students will improve their abilities in communicating their research interests and skills to a broad audience and will learn pedagogical skills from their interactions with the teachers. As an outreach mathematician working with teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jerry Dwyer said he considers the National Science Foundation's GK-12 Grant Program to be an ideal way to create a new generation of faculty with greater expertise in outreach. "I see students who do not understand the usefulness of mathematics at all," Dwyer said. "I think that integrated math-science modules serve a dual purpose. They show that math is useful and help to motivate students. The project team has a nice interdisciplinary balance. The teachers will bring experience that will truly benefit the graduate students. The students will find enjoyment in the newly developed modules." The multidisciplinary principal investigator team includes Casadonte, Dwyer, Mary Baker from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Jennifer Wilhelm from the College of Education, and Kim Perry from Lubbock Independent School District.

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