A project based at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island to improve science learning at the middle and secondary levels in Rhode Island has received a $12.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) – the largest such grant ever awarded in Rhode Island. The project will be administered in schools statewide through the newly established Rhode Island STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Center at RIC.
The NSF grant, awarded to RIC and URI, is the first large-scale funding under the umbrella of the STEM Center. |
The RITES Leadership Team:
Back l to r: Bob Tinker (Concord Consortium), Peter McLaren (RIDE),
Glênisson de Oliveira (RIC), Ken Biel (Concord Consortium)
Front l to r: Deborah Collins (EA), Kathryn Crowley (Johnston Public Schools),
Dan Murray (URI)
Not pictured: David Cedrone (RIEDC)
Picture courtesy of  http://www.alliance.brown.edu |
It was one of only 23 out of a pool of 181 proposals to receive NSF grants, and it was the largest of the eight that received funding of $12 million or more.
“This is a statewide project that will serve as a model for the whole nation,” said Glênisson de Oliveira, associate professor of chemistry at RIC and a lead principal investigator on the project, known as RITES (Rhode Island Technology Enhanced Science).
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri announced the grant award at a ceremony at Johnston Senior High School on Sept. 25.
Carcieri commended the state’s higher education institutions for establishing a “great sense of camaraderie” and “aggressively collaborating” with Rhode Island’s K-12 school system.
The RITES project seeks to enhance the quality of science teaching and learning at Rhode Island’s middle schools and high schools and increase the number and diversity of students who are proficient in science and who pursue STEM-related careers.
The timing for the project “couldn’t be better” said Carcieri. Last month, the results of Rhode Island’s first state assessment in science at grades 4, 8 and 11 found that only 24 percent of Rhode Island’s students scored proficient or better, including only 17 percent in grade 11.
The grant will provide affordable tools for science inquiry, including the ability to use computer models, and it will involve scientists at RIC and the other institutions of higher learning in K-12 education. Also, class activities and professional developments will be designed and implemented through equal partnerships between higher education and K-12 faculty.
De Oliveira said that in addition to the STEM Center being based at RIC, the fact that the College is involving its school of education (the largest in the state) made the proposal an attractive candidate to receive the grant.
“The participation of the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, under the leadership of [interim dean] Roger Eldridge, has been essential, since this project intends to improve the way we teach science and train teachers to teach science,” de Oliveira said.
At least 15 RIC faculty members will be involved in teaching courses and teaching teachers through the project, according to de Oliveira.
The RITES project’s core partners are RIC, URI, Johnston Public Schools and the Rhode Island Department of Education. Supporting partners include Brown University, the Community College of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and the Concord Consortium. The Education Alliance at Brown University will evaluate the project.
In addition to de Oliveira, other principal investigators are Daniel P. Murray (co-lead), a geosciences professor at URI, Kathryn Crowley, assistant superintendent for science and technology in Johnston schools, Peter McLaren, science and technology specialist with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Robert F. Tinker, president of the Concord Consortium. Ten other RIC faculty members are listed as senior personnel on the project.
The grant, which will begin this month, is for five years, and the first and smallest cohort of teachers from five high schools and their associated middle schools will participate in professional development and graduate courses next summer.
For additional information, refer to the links below.
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