How does a raisin react when dropped in various liquids? Will it sink, float or fizzle?
Those are some of the questions kindergartners will explore at Blackman Elementary School after they return from winter break thanks to a new innovation minigrant the school has been awarded through Nissan North America and the Rutherford County Business Education Partnership.
Blackman teachers Ashley Thomas, Katrina Butler and Kim Marable are three of 64 Rutherford County and Murfreesboro City school teachers who received the grants on Tuesday, Dec. 6, during an awards breakfast held at the Stones River Country Club in Murfreesboro.
The BEP Nissan Minigrant awards are given to teachers in Rutherford County and Murfreesboro who successfully demonstrate an idea for an innovative classroom program that impacts students.
Nissan contributes the funding to offer the minigrant awards, in addition to several other programs throughout the year for educators and students, BEP Director Amelia Bozeman said.
"Nissan has played such a crucial role for our students," Bozeman said.
Randy Knight, vice president for manufacturing for Nissan North America, thanked teachers for looking for ways to engage students and promote lifelong learning. Knight has a special connection to education in Rutherford County because his wife was a school teacher for 30 years. In addition, he is a lifelong resident who was raised, educated and employed within the county, he said.
"I didn't have to go anywhere to find God's country," Knight said he tells people.
At Blackman, the grant will fund a program the teachers call "Stemtastic Fridays." STEM is an acronym for education programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Parents will be invited to work with their children to complete weekly experiments and activities that are designed to ignite student interest in STEM programs.
"It's a learning experience but we're trying to make it fun," said Marable, who is an instructional coach at Blackman Elementary. "Normally with kindergartners, they can't handle as much but that's why we want to start early."
In addition to the raisin experiments, students will also complete activities using Lego bricks to design towers and learn the process of journaling about their processes and projects, Marable added.
The following teachers with Rutherford County Schools received minigrants for the 2017 spring semester:
|
Name |
School Name |
Name of Project |
|
Kim Marable, Katrina Butler, and Ashley Thomas |
Blackman Elementary |
Stemtastic Fridays |
|
Gayle Dawson |
Blackman High School |
Geometrically Building a Bridge to Your Future. |
|
Rebecca Jones |
Blackman High School |
DNA Goes to the Dogs |
|
Zach Martin |
Blackman Middle School |
Blast off with STEM |
|
Tyson Hoppe |
Cedar Grove Elementary |
Being an Acoustician; Sounds good to me! |
|
Gene Cowart |
Central Magnet School |
Behavioral Engineering: Hoop Rats |
|
Marc Guthrie and Scarlett Murphy |
Central Magnet School |
NASA Human Rover Project |
|
Lauren Lane and Jenny Culp |
Central Magnet School |
Do the Rot Thing: Composting with Worms |
|
Christa Demonbreun |
Christiana Elementary |
Cells Exploration |
|
Amanda Amirault and Kelly Patterson |
Christiana Elementary |
STEM-R-US |
|
Dawn Powell |
Christiana Middle School |
STEAM Through Coding with OZOBOTS |
|
Emily Marshall |
Eagleville School |
Too Good To Waste |
|
Emily Marshall |
Eagleville School |
Is Less Really More? |
|
Christina Tibbs |
Eagleville School |
Move Over, Mark Zuckerberg |
|
Amy Wilson |
Oakland High School |
Transformations and Tessellations |
|
Alice Ruth Brank |
Oakland High School |
Heat-Energy Transfer |
|
Preston Johnson |
Oakland High School |
Forensic Investigation of OTC Drugs |
|
Justin Stanford |
Oakland High School |
Understanding Matter |
|
John Dalton York |
Riverdale High School |
Physics Exploration with GoPro Cameras |
|
Garry Gannon |
Rock Springs Middle School |
Buggy Racers |
|
Clara Kaplan |
Roy Waldron Elementary |
STEM Studio: Can you code it? Hands-On Enrichment for RTI |
|
Julia Barry |
Siegel High School |
Carbon Dioxide Launched Cars |
|
D. Riley Connolly |
Siegel High School |
Measuring Knee Stress with a Mechanical Model |
|
Christina Hurt |
Siegel High School |
The Ins & Outs of Mammal Anatomy |
|
Laura Martin, Paul Mittura, and Dana Newton |
Siegel High School |
Putt-Putt Propulsion Boats |
|
Laura Martin, Jeff Martin, and Sharon Miller |
Siegel High School |
Organic Chemistry - Not Just the Organic in the Produce Department |
|
Katie Harris |
Siegel Middle School |
Electromagnets: The Source of the Force! |
|
Heidi Redmon |
Smyrna Elementary School |
"Once Upon an Engineer" |
|
Carin Miranda |
Smyrna Middle School |
The First Drop is Always the Biggest |
|
Nicole Krushenski |
Stewarts Creek Elementary |
Driving for learning |
|
Josh Hoevelmann |
Stewarts Creek High School |
Audio Cable Soldering |
|
Amy Olt |
Stewarts Creek High School |
Alpacas To Go |
|
Pam Stewart |
Stewarts Creek High School |
It's all in the genes |
|
Pam Stewart |
Stewarts Creek High School |
Attack of the Superbugs: Students Fight Back |
|
Ginger Adcock |
Stewarts Creek Middle School |
Math- Not Just a Workbook |
|
Gina McClanhan |
Walter Hill School |
Brain "Building" in the Classroom |
