Thank you Oppenheimer Family Foundation! Kids will DO science.

We just found out that our proposal, Animal Behavior Symposium, has been funded by the Oppenheimer Family Foundation.  Each year the foundation gives out $250,000 in grant money to Chicago Public Schools teachers to support innovative hands-on project based learning.  If you are a CPS teacher or know a good one, please help spread the word about this funding opportunity by sharing the link below.
http://www.offtig.org/teachersarea/grantapplication/guidelines.php

The curiosity is undeniable when a kid holds an unfamiliar animal in hand for the first time.  In our Animal Behavior Symposium project, students will work with one of three species- Giant Madagascar Cockroaches, African Dwarf Frogs, or Green Anole Lizards- while they design their own unique research projects to experimentally investigate animal behavior.  They will carry out their experiments over five weeks and then communicate their findings with scientific papers which will be reviewed by their in class peers.  They will then orally present their papers to classmates and invited guests at a symposium.  They will then switch species, and building on the work of their classmates, carry out new projects that further the knowledge of the community.  This will help kids learn about how science works in the professional science community.  The best way to learn is by DOING.