Successful Funding: Interactive Learning
Suzanne Costner received a Nickelodeon Big Help Grant from the NEA Foundation to fund materials supplemental to Promethean Boards recently installed in her elementary school classroom. The grant supported the purchase of two sets of ActivExpressions voting pods, a Classroom Jeopardy set, and DVDs with interactive content.
The proposal, “Going Interactive” was designed to actively involve students with the content of lessons by taking advantage of the whiteboards in their classes through interactive DVDs, and by using the pods to let students respond to questions, polls, and quizzes. The voting pods also allow teachers to track answers and participation, allowing real-time feedback.
The final report suggests that teachers who used the new materials most frequently had the highest achievement scores in the school, which were significantly higher than the scores in those areas from the year before.
The application was difficult to complete. It required a line item proposal budget; a summary of the project; a description of the goals for student learning and how each outcome would be measured; a description of student need for the project; a description of how students will be involved in critical thinking and problem-solving during the project; and an explanation of how the project will be sustained beyond the first year of implementation.
Read more about Suzanne’s success and check out more Success Stories.
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