For immediate release

Oct. 7, 2005

Contact Pam Joseph at (419) 995-8284

Sprint awards $3,000 grant to Ohio State Lima for scholarships to schools

Outreach program increases environmental and scientific awareness

The Ohio State University at Lima will be awarded a $3,000 grant from Sprint to support outreach to K-12 schools in a 10-county region for the 2005-2006 academic year at the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce press conference on Monday, Oct. 10, 2005.

The grant provides scholarships for 36 fifth or sixth grade classrooms to participate in Inquiry, Scientists and the Environment, or ISE. The program creates the opportunity for students to don lab coats and explore becoming scientists while learning about local environmental issues.  

Ohio State Lima will use the grant to target classrooms in the 10-county service region, including Allen, Auglaize, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Shelby and Van Wert counties. The scholarships will be awarded on a first-come-first-serve basis and will cover 75 percent of the program costs. Costs to the school district will be $25 per classroom.

In the fifth grade ISE program, students split up into five committees that use research to answer the question “How does construction impact the ecosystem?” The program enhances the study of our ecosystem while introducing students to more than 20 careers related to environmental sciences. The activity objectives are correlated with fifth grade learner outcomes, benchmarks and proficiency strands.

Sixth graders split into Disaster Control Teams that use research data to solve the question “What do we do after a tornado?” Students discuss environmental issues relating to air and water pollution, vanishing plants and wildlife, and the ecosystem. Activity objectives are correlated with sixth grade proficiency strands in science, writing, mathematics and citizenship.

For more information on Ohio State Lima’s K-12 Outreach programs, contact Lynn Sametz at (419) 995-8805 or visit the website at lima.osu.edu.
 

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