Written by: Monika Spaulding
The STEAM lab at Salem Schools is continuing to improve and grow thanks to a grant from the Indiana Department of Education. This is the fourth STEM grant the school corporation has received from the state. With funds being cut by 50%, the grant this year totalled $24,985.
The DOE has started requesting grant applicants to choose a content area for the grant money. The focus last year was on computer science. This year, it is math. The money received through the grant will be used for professional development for math and STEAM and ways to incorporate more math into the STEAM curriculum.
STEAM Director Jessica Morgan said once the curriculum is developed, it will be shared with the other two school buildings.
All students who come through Salem Schools learn how to program robots. The STEM grant money will be used to purchase a set of robots for Bradie Shrum Elementary and a set of robot dogs at Salem Middle School. The school will also purchase graphing calculators for 8th graders and math manipulatives for students to use in the lab.
The money will also be used to purchase a year’s subscription to Generation Genius, which is an online curriculum enhancement for math teachers.
“I hope with this grant focusing on math, it will help teachers in their efforts to raise math scores,” said Morgan.
She added that they are grateful to the state for the grants, which have totaled approximately $170,000 over four years.