2011 Grants

The Girls' Middle School In Mountain View, California

Last year, we gave two grants to The Girls Middle School (www.girlsms.org). (Which moved this year, to Palo Alto, California.) In 2011, we continued our support of GMS, with three new grants:

Document cameras for classroom instruction

A document camera is special camera for classroom instruction, which enables a teacher to project a live image onto a screen. It's much better than a whiteboard for instruction related to three-dimensional shapes. GMS uses a lot of 'manipulatives' in math instruction, which are three-dimensional teaching tools designed to help a student learn a mathematical concept by manipulating it herself. Many manipulatives do not work well with basic overhead projectors, but with a document camera a teacher can demonstrate how to use a manipulative to the whole class, or one girl can show her solution to the rest of the class. Document cameras are also helpful when a teacher wants to show the class the details of a biology specimen. The cameras can also record video and audio for future teaching sessions; this is a huge benefit for girls who work with tutors because the tutors will have an exact copy of the lesson presented in class.

The Foundation funded four document cameras, for a total grant of $2000.

Biomimicry field trip

Also known as "bio-inspired design", bio-mimicry tries to take design lessons from the survival skills and attributes of natural organisms. A famous example is Velcro, which was inspired by the burrs that stuck to the inventor's pants when he went on walks with his dog. It's a way to not only learn about nature, but to learn from it. The 7th grade girls at GMS study evolution and its mechanisms, and the topic of biomimicry reinforces the concepts of adaptation and natural selection in a hands-on way. This year, the Foundation will fund a field trip for the entire 7th grade. The girls will spend four hours aboard a 90-foot research vessel in the San Francisco Bay. During the trip, the girls will rotate through three stations to study the different adaptations of the aquatic animals that come to the Bay to reproduce. The grant is approximately $1500.

iFly field trip

For many girls (and boys for that matter), science topics are uninteresting if they are not connected with real-world experiences and applications. This year, the Foundation will fund a field trip for the entire 8th grade at GMS to visit a nearby iFly 'indoor skydiving' facility. The girls will:

* conduct experiments within the flight chamber to determine the terminal velocity of various sports balls
* examine the flight patterns of non-uniform items
* get a brief lecture on physics topics relevant to the wind tunnel and flight
* take a tour of the facility, with an up-close look at how the science and engineering of the tunnel works
* "fly" in the wind tunnel!

We think this is a great way to apply engineering and physical concepts in a way that is fun and accessible. The grant is approximately $1500.

The Young Women's Leadership School In Astoria, New York City

For the third year in a row, we gave a grant to The Young Women's Leadership School in Astoria, Queens (www.tywls.org). Last year, we funded a three-day environmental science workshop and academic field experience for the entire 7th grade (75 students), at an 85-acre nature preserve. The program was such a success, we've decided to fund it again this year.

The program is conducted with Christodora, a non-profit environmental science organization. Before the field trip, a Christodora environmental educator and a TYWLS science teacher team-teach the young women at TYWLS. The students work through a lesson plan that covers the basic concepts of watersheds, bio-diversity and human impact on the natural environment, and additional topics. Once the girls have this foundation, they will go on a three-day overnight retreat at Christodora's Manice Education Center in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. It's an 85-acre preserve of natural woodlands, where environmental educators will teach the girls in small groups. They will study diverse ecosystems (woodlands, waterfall and bog) and they'll gather water samples and measure weather conditions. They'll also study topics such as forest ecology, tree and plant identification, edible plants, geology, soil formation, woodland survival, and using a map and compass. This will be the first wilderness experience for many of these girls. The goal is to inspire through hands-on learning, and to give the girls a better understanding of an ecosystem and its processes. The girls will emerge better equipped to understand the relevance of environmental science to our lives.

Like last year, the Foundation's grant will enable the entire 7th grade (75 girls) to attend the program. The grant is $10,000.