Greater Texas Foundation » Improving Science and Math Education

Charles A. Dana Center AMDM Mathematics Capstone

gtf — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:09:42 +0000

Teachers at the Summer 2009 San Antonio area AMDM professional development - part of the first wave of yearlong professional support for teachers piloting the course.

Greater Texas Foundation awarded $410,000 to the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas to support the development of an Advanced Mathematical Decision Making (AMDM) mathematics capstone course. In response to the new graduation requirement that Texas high school students complete four years of mathematics, the Dana Center—in partnership with the Texas Association of Supervisors of Mathematics (TASM)—utilized the funds over a two-year period to support the development of a rigorous and engaging capstone high school mathematics course designed to follow Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.

The course material presents a very hands-on, real-world application approach to the uses and theories of mathematics. More specifically,

the course emphasizes statistics and financial applications, and it prepares students to use algebra, geometry, trigonometry and discrete mathematics to model a range of situations and solve problems.”

AMDM is designed to help students prepare for many non-mathematics intensive college majors. It will also serve students who might not be planning to attend college but instead enter into a workforce training program. The course is being piloted by 120 teachers in 90 Texas schools, as well as a few schools in Illinois and Indiana.

To learn more about the curriculum, visit the AMDM project website.

Read about what pilot teachers are saying about AMDM here.

Web-Based Educational System for Learning Mathematics: Reasoning Mind

gtf — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:32:25 +0000

Greater Texas Foundation has committed $150,000 over three years to Reasoning Mind, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children better understand and perform higher in the subject area of mathematics. This GTF funded program will provide additional students with core math instruction from the RM system. The grant will cover the cost of implementation for schools in low-income areas that lack sufficient funding to cover the cost of tuition, implementation, and teacher training.

Reasoning Mind currently operates in 28 schools in Texas, as well as in many schools in California and Louisiana.

Reasoning Mind, Inc.

gtf — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:21:52 +0000

To support the expansion of a web-based educational system for learning mathematics.

Year: 2009

Grant: $150,000

Alice Johnson Junior High

gtf — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:11:47 +0000

President’s fund Infinity Project: To support the Infinity Project to inspire students to take a greater interest in math and science.

Year: 2009

Amount: $1,500

Math & Science Teacher Scholarship Program

gtf — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:00:59 +0000

$150,000 each to The University of Texas at Dallas; Sam Houston State University; The University of Texas at Arlington; Texas Women’s University; University of North Texas; University of Houston; Texas Christian University; Tarleton State University; The University of Texas at Austin. The Math and Science Teacher Scholarship Program supports and encourages students majoring in STEM areas to complete the requirements to become highly qualified teachers through scholarship programs at public and private four-year post secondary higher education institutions in the state of Texas.

US Foundation for the Inspiration Recognition for Science and Technology (FIRST): Expansion

gtf — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:54:51 +0000

$200,000 over four years to FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to support the expansion of FIRST North Texas Regional through team support, new team recruitment and sustainability, teacher stipends, and workshops for rookie teams. Participating high schools form student teams which work with professional engineer mentors to design and build a robot in six weeks that will then compete against other robots at a regional competition. Through its robotics competitions, FIRST aims to increase the teaching of math and science principles, inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields, and teach students team work, self confidence, accomplishment of goals, the rewards of hard work, and the joy of discovery. This grant will allow the North Texas Regional to approach other donors to receive potential matching grants; enabling them to double the impact of team support.

TexPrep

gtf — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:53:49 +0000

$499,824 to The University of Texas at San Antonio to support TexPrep, an academically intense summer program for high achieving middle and high school students with an interest in science, technology, engineering and math. The program stresses the development of abstract reasoning and problem solving skills. Specifically, the grant will support enhancement of TexPrep by adding the Infinity Project (technology/engineering curriculum) component, increase the number of TexPrep sites, support the growth of existing sites, and support research and evaluation that will focus on predictive or causal relationships between TexPrep participation and STEM college majors, college graduation and other academic indicators.

FIRST: Houston Lone Star Regional Robotics Competition

gtf — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:26:01 +0000

$37,500 matching grant to FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to support high school teams participating in the 2009 FIRST Houston Lone Star Regional Robotics Competition. Participating high schools form student teams which work with professional engineer mentors to design and build a robot in six weeks that will then compete against other robots at a regional competition. Through its robotics competitions, FIRST aims to increase the teaching of math and science principles, inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields, and teach students team work, self confidence, accomplishment of goal, the rewards of hard work, and the joy of discovery.

UTeach Replication: The University of Texas at Austin

gtf — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:50:50 +0000

$1.4 Million over 5 years to The University of Texas at Austin to fund a replication of the UTeach Institute’s UTeach Teacher Certification Program at another university in the state. The goal of the UTeach Institute is to increase the number of math and science teachers in high need areas of the state who exhibit both a deep understanding of secondary level math and science content as well as knowledge of curriculum development and instructional strategies. Over the past decade, the UTeach program has been so successful in producing significantly more certified math and science teachers that it has become a national model for teacher certification.

Mathematics Capstone Course Project: Charles A. Dana Center

gtf — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:08:44 +0000

$410,000 to the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Science (Austin, TX). In response to the new graduation requirement that Texas high school students complete four years of mathematics, the Dana Center—in partnership with the Texas Association of Supervisors of Mathematics (TASM)—will use the funds over a two-year period to support the development of a rigorous and engaging capstone high school mathematics course designed to follow Algebra II.