Staff Development/MIDAS Grants 2006-07

In addition to the Innovative Teaching Grants, the Foundation joined with The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Smithville to provide more than 50 Bastrop teachers an exceptional professional development opportunity in the form of their attendance of the Center’s Environmental Health Sciences Summer Institute. The four-day institute introduces teachers at all grade levels to new curricular materials exploring the interrelationships between human health and the environment and to methods encouraging students to use critical thinking skills. The “MIDAS” project—Models of Implementation and Dissemination of Environmental Health Science across Subjects—developed through a grant from by the National Institutes of Health, bolsters multi- disciplinary science instruction at all grade levels with innovative environmental health and science curriculum lessons and resources.

Four teachers participating in the institute were specifically honored with Awards of Excellence for their subsequent work to integrate the lessons and resources into instruction:

• Intermediate school teacher Mark Collins received the Midas award for his creativity in the development and implementation of classroom lessons and activities.
• Middle school teacher Tammy Randell was recognized for documentation of the implementation.
• Middle school teachers Ginni Smith and Kathy Smith were honored for their collaborative work to integrate environmental health science topics across curriculum areas.

The Foundation sustained teacher participation for two consecutive summers, beginning in 2006.   Grants for the 2006-07 school year totaled $5,300.