The New Year Brings New Grant Funding to ITTIP

The New Year has arrived and upon returning from Winter Break, ITTIP found out we were awarded two new grants!  We could not be more excited, as this grant funding will support both a student and a teacher program for the spring and upcoming 2017-2018 school year.

The first grant was awarded by the Verizon Foundation to fund Hummingbird for Middle School Students. This grant will enable middle school students to participate in an after-school STEM program and provide them the opportunity to build and program a robot using the Hummingbird Robotics Kit.  Hummingbird for Middle School Students will take place in the spring 2017 and in the fall 2017 at two different middle schools and allows for 15 students in each cohort.

The second grant, Inspiring Teachers for Engaged Learners (InTEL), was awarded through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia under the federal Title II, Part A, Subpart III – Improving Teacher Quality State Grants.  The grant will provide professional development for 20 grades 3-8 teachers on the integration of technology, pedagogy that supports alternative assessments (PBL), and global collaboration in order to promote critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship in the classroom (5Cs) and improve student achievement in the classroom through increased student engagement. Seven Region 8 school divisions (Appomattox, Amelia, Buckingham, Cumberland, Halifax, Nottoway, and Prince Edward) are partners in this project.  InTEL will begin in the summer and take place over the 2017-2018 school year.

ITTIP staff is looking forward to the implementation of these new grants as we also continue working with teachers on our current projects!