As you all know, the Herald Whitaker Middle School was destroyed by a tornado in 2012. Among the many casualties wre the science lab and all its content. My grant this year has allowed us to purchase some basic lab equipment like beakers, test tubes and scales. It has meant that not only do the special needs students in my classes get to actually put some science concepts in place , but also, every student in the building has access to hand on learning in a science lab setting. This has been a wonderful opportunity to advances STEM learning at HWMS. In fact my students went to the lab yesterday to work on finding mass and volume of numerous items before determing density. In the past such math heavy concepts have left my students disengaged. Not yesterday, they were measuring everything they could find and actually using calculators to correctly complete tasks. One of the other science teachers has used the newly equipped lab weekly and recently said that he believes the lab had made this one of his most successful years.

Another component of the grant was the implementation of Kagan Cooperative Learning in the classroom. Since using the structure I have seen improvements in social skills as well as upward movement in academic pursuits.