From: Marc Siegel - NASA K-12 IITA Program <marc@quest.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: 1996 IDEA grants program announcement (fwd)
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 06:35:13 -0700 (PDT)
Hello,
This is a grant program in which real scientists (not us scientist
wanna-bees) can get up to $6K (or $20K) for developing innovative K-12 stuff.
But they have to work with teachers to be successful.
If you are burning with an idea, perhaps you can identify a local
astronomer/scientist and work with them to get the cash.
The due date is October 15. Now, I'm only sending this out
because I know you wouldn't let it interfere with your LFM energy.
And if you do score, don't forget my 5% finders fee.
Yours, Marc
---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
INITIATIVE TO DEVELOP EDUCATION THROUGH ASTRONOMY
IDEA Research Grants
Proposal Deadline: 15-October-96
I. PURPOSE:
The public, especially children, is fascinated with astronomy.
Astronomy's broad appeal provides publicly-funded astronomers with an
opportunity and a responsibility to use their expertise to enhance education
at all levels, from kindergarten students to adults.
Through the IDEA grants program, astronomers with innovative education
methods can improve science education at all levels, especially
pre-college. The IDEA program is one component of NASA's Office of Space
Science (OSS) Education and Public Outreach Strategy to improve science,
mathematics, technology, and literacy in the U.S.
II. ELIGIBILITY:
Administered by the Space Telescope Science Institute, the IDEA program is
funded by NASA's Office of Space Science Education Directorate. To apply
for an IDEA grant, scientists must be professionals in astronomy and
astrophysics. Strong preference will be given to proposals that include the
active participation of NASA-supported science investigators. Astronomers
at ANY institution, including NASA field centers and industry partners,
are eligible for this program.
III. PROJECT GUIDELINES:
IDEA grant applicants must follow these guidelines.
Emphasis on Collaboration:
Preference will be given to proposals that include teachers or education
specialists as co-creators, participants, or evaluators. Astronomers are
urged to contact teachers or education universities, community colleges,
science museums, planetariums, aerospace or telecommunications industries,
publishing companies, educational radio or television stations, or
professional science and education organizations.
Astronomers at universities and colleges are strongly encouraged to
collaborate with science education faculty, graduate students in science
education, or education undergraduates. If their institutions are part
of a NASA Space Grant Consortium, applicants should, at least, notify
institution officials of their proposals.
Intended Audience:
Most of the grant proposals will target public audiences or kindergarten
through twelfth grade teachers and students. However, some consideration
will be given to innovative proposals that strengthen introductory college
courses in astronomy or math and science. In particular, proposals
targeting undergraduate or graduate students training for careers in
kindergarten through high school education are encouraged.
Researcher Involvement/Links to Research:
IDEA GRANT PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS ARE EXPECTED TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE
IN THE PROPOSED EDUCATION ENDEAVOR. However, IDEA is not intended to
support projects that place researchers in the role of substitute teachers.
All projects must have an astronomy focus and be related to NASA space
astronomy. Inventive projects are welcome, particularly ones that place
astronomy in an interdisciplinary or multicultural context, including
efforts that reach beyond the physical sciences to the arts, social
sciences, history, and mathematics.
Links to Active Learning and Education Reform:
A large body of educational research has demonstrated that passive
education is relatively ineffective. "Tell me, I forget. Show me, I
remember. Involve me, I understand." Preference will be given to IDEA
projects that contain meaningful hands-on exercises related to space
astronomy research. The projects should be centered on the concept of the
teacher/student as scientist, explorer, and discoverer.
For proposed educational activities involving teacher training or
enhancement, applicants are encouraged to include teachers who participate
in science education reform and/or who would share their experiences of the
grant project with their colleagues. National organizations devoted to
science education can help to identify such teachers in an applicant's
area. Project activities that address formal education should follow
national or state education standards.
Innovative Approaches:
The IDEA program is intended to fund pilot projects that explore innovative,
effective, and non-traditional methods for improving the public's
understanding of science, and for science, mathematics and technical
education. Therefore, proposals that use NASA science research results in
imaginative ways and create inventive partnerships to accomplish project
goals are highly desirable.
Multiplier Effects and Dissemination:
Each IDEA project should have the potential for multiplying its impact
beyond its direct audience. This goal is most likely achieved through
partnerships with the professional communities in education and
communication, or through broad distribution.
For example, an astronomer could work with a science museum director or a
producer of educational television on a project that will help teachers
and the public. Another possibility is to create an education project and
collaborate with experienced professionals to broadly distribute it. One
way of achieving a broad distribution is through the Internet. Fifty
percent of U.S. public schools now have Internet access, an increase
of 35 percent from a year ago (National Center for Education Statistics
"Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Elementary and Secondary
Schools 1995," February, 1996).
Sharing a project's methods and evaluation (see section below) directly
with professional colleagues also is strongly encouraged.
Evaluation/Assessment:
All IDEA proposals must have a clearly described plan for evaluating their
effectiveness. A thorough evaluation can be a time-consuming process.
IDEA grant recipients must only provide a simple analysis of their project.
To do this, grant applicants must define testable goals, and the methods
they will use to determine success. Some examples are: giving pre- and
post-tests of science knowledge, collecting questionnaires from participants,
and keeping track of time spent in the classroom and with
teachers. Applicants also must demonstrate that the proposed activities
adhere to national education standards.
Reporting and Project Descriptions:
Each IDEA grant recipient should create a Web page that contains key
project personnel, the participating institutions, contact persons, and a
brief description of the activities. The Institute will create hypertext
links to the projects upon notification of the Web page's existence.
These links will be accessible through the Institute's IDEA project forum.
Project recipients must provide final reports to the Institute that
describes their successes and failures and includes an evaluation summary
(see later section for the desired format of this report). The Institute
will make excerpts of these reports available to other research astronomers
who are looking for ways to begin exploring their roles in educational
outreach. These reports will be disseminated by the Institute through the
Web IDEA project forum.
Finally, the Institute will periodically arrange for IDEA sessions at AAS
meetings so that IDEA recipients can exchange information, share lessons
learned, and discuss successful strategies.
***IMPORTANT NOTE --- PLEASE READ***
Educational Activity vs. Educational Products:
NASA policies prohibit astronomers from using the grants to create
potentially marketable products, such as videos, slide sets, or computer
software. Experimenting with an educational ACTIVITY must be the emphasis
of an applicant's proposal. Projects may involve the development of an
educational product, but it must be part of an educational activity.
Applicants whose projects involve writing scripts or developing
audio-visual materials should guarantee that these products are part of an
educational activity. Teachers or other appropriate professionals should
assist astronomers in developing and testing these products to ensure that
they are suitable for science curricula.
IV. PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA
Consistent with these project guidelines, all IDEA grant proposals will be
assessed according to the following list of evaluation criteria. All of
these factors are important and will be considered in the evaluation of
each proposal.
1) Collaboration with teachers or education specialists as co-creators,
participants, or evaluators.
2) Researcher involvement
3) Links to NASA research
4) Links to active learning and knowledge of science education reform
5) Innovative method or approach
6) Impact beyond direct audience
7) Evaluation plan
It is highly desirable for IDEA projects to contribute to the education
and training of underrepresented groups.
V. IDEAS FOR POSSIBLE PROJECT AREAS
Any innovative proposal - subject to the above guidelines and evaluation
criteria - will be considered. The following areas are of particular
interest, but applicants should not feel confined by these. [A directory of
information on the 1995 grant projects is available upon request, or can be
found on the World Wide Web at: http://ftp.stsci.edu/ftp/pubinfo/education.]
1) Astronomy workshops for teachers and/or for teacher interns: Workshops
should inspire teachers to creatively incorporate astronomy into their
regular classroom curricula. IDEA will fund workshops for teachers at any
grade level. Preference will be given to workshops that develop
age-appropriate classroom activities for elementary school teachers. If
possible, workshops should offer continuing education or professional
development credit.
2) Innovative projects involving women and underrepresented cultural groups:
Projects could include activities such as special "astronomy days" (or
nights) for students and their teachers, or activities that send astronomers
(including post-doctorate, graduate, or undergraduate students)
to schools with large "minority" enrollments. Multicultural and
nontraditional (e.g. wilderness experiences) approaches to astronomy also
are encouraged.
3) Use of interactive, educational software involving space astronomy data:
Astronomical science relies heavily on computers for the storage, transfer,
and analysis of astrophysical data. Consider projects that can translate
modern astrophysical data into interactive electronic formats that are
useful and accessible to astronomy teachers at all levels. Any educational
software grant recipients create as part of their project will be made
available for unrestricted use and distribution.
4) Educational writing or consulting that uses astronomy to improve public
understanding and appreciation of science: Serve as a consultant to a
television or radio broadcast/series or develop/write materials for use in
informal science education settings, such as science museums and planeteriums.
5) Master teachers: Plan professional development teacher workshops.
VI. BUDGET GUIDELINES
Please be sure to follow the guidelines below in preparing an IDEA grant
budget.
Maximum Awards:
The spirit of the IDEA grants program is to encourage all research
astronomers to devote a small fraction of their total efforts toward
experimentation with educational projects. Thus, it is preferable to fund
many small pilot projects, facilitating the participation of many
astronomers in education, rather than funding fewer large projects.
IDEA proposals may be made in either of two categories: small projects or
large projects. Awards in the small projects category is limited to $6,000
each. IDEA program coordinators expect that most of the grant awards will be
made to projects in this category. Applicants for large projects may
request between $6,001 and $20,000. Programs in the larger awards category
must be of greater scope. In general, a principal investigator may submit
no more than one proposal per category.
Applicants who have received a prior IDEA grant or an Astrophysics Grant
Supplement for Education (AGSE) may apply to the 1996 IDEA grants program
for a NEW project. Expansions or enhancements to existing projects may be
proposed if they represent new innovations or significant advancements
over the prior project. APPLICANTS WHO ARE EXPANDING ON A PREVIOUSLY FUNDED
PROJECT MUST INCLUDE A ONE-PAGE SUMMARY WITH THEIR PROPOSAL, NOTING LESSONS
LEARNED, PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS, THE EVALUATION RESULTS, AND ANY HUMAN OR
FINANCIAL RESOURCES THAT HAVE BEEN LEVERAGED BY THE PREVIOUS GRANT.
Salary Support:
The program's purpose is not to subsidize astronomical research. Applicants
may request salary support for hiring individuals to help bring projects to
fruition, including undergraduate assistants, school teachers, and teachers
in training. But this is the exception rather than the rule.
Salary support to astronomers may be funded if the proposal clearly
demonstrates that it is essential to the educational project's success.
Computer Hardware:
Because of the limited funds available for this program, computer hardware
requests will unlikely be accepted. In particular, grants cannot be used
to purchase computer hardware that will be used for purposes other than the
direct support of an IDEA education project. Applicants also must certify
that the computer hardware will continue to be used for educational
activities once the project is completed.
Other Equipment:
Requests for the purchase of major equipment (e.g., telescopes, software,
etc.) will be evaluated individually. Past experience, however, has shown
that such requests will unlikely be approved or recommended by the peer
review panel. As a guideline, remember that the program's purpose is to
involve the researcher as a collaborator in the educational process. The
program's goal is not to purchase equipment for general use in schools,
museums, planetariums, or other institutions.
Materials and Dissemination:
Applicants may request funds to purchase project materials or for the costs
associated with disseminating project information to science museums and
planetariums. Local educational resources should also be investigated.
In order to achieve maximum leverage from IDEA funds, remember that the
Institute has numerous resources available electronically. In addition,
some NASA centers and other institutions, such as science museums,
planetariums, and libraries, may be willing to distribute the information.
The Institute can provide more information about NASA distribution sites.
Consider other distribution methods (e.g. NASA television, SpaceLink, and
the Internet) to obtain access to educational products and to disseminate
IDEA project results.
Travel, Honoraria, Refreshments:
Grant funds may be used to pay local travel expenses or stipends for
teachers participating in workshops. It will be more difficult to make a
convincing case for long distance travel, honoraria for speakers, or other
large expenditures for single individuals. Travel support for an astronomy
researcher who will attend a workshop or conference to learn about
effective educational outreach and/or science education reform is
acceptable, as long as it does not dominate the budget request.
Refreshments or meals may not be funded by this program, although the
special value of social events held in conjunction with outreach activities
is well recognized. Applicants should seek other sponsorship for these
expenses.
Other:
It is impossible to foresee all possible types of budget requests. Any
items not covered above will be considered individually, subject to legal
restrictions, NASA policy, and the spirit of the IDEA grants program.
Institutional Overhead:
In many cases, IDEA grants will build upon a base of much larger federally
funded research activities conducted by IDEA grant investigators. Since the
grants are quite small and are intended to stimulate outreach activities
that are of direct social benefit, IDEA program coordinators will give
strong preference to proposals whose administrative costs are waived or
reduced below 20 percent of the proposed amount.
VII. HOW TO REQUEST AN IDEA GRANT
The proposal process is kept as simple as possible, requiring only the
information the review panel will need to critically evaluate a grant
request. Follow the format below. PLEASE CONSTRAIN PROPOSALS TO THREE TO
FIVE PAGES, plus cover pages, budget pages, and special forms.
Proposals should be submitted electronically. Three hard copies (one
original and two copies) also should be sent.
Proposals should include the following sections:
1) Cover page: This must be a single page that contains the proposal's
title; the name, title, and affiliation of the principal investigator and
co-investigators; the education collaborator's name; the principal
investigator's mail and e-mail address; the amount of money requested; and
a 150- to 200-word abstract of the educational project. The abstract
should list one of the following proposal categories. (Although the
project may involve several from this category, choose the one that
represents the major part of the work.)
Teacher/Student Workshop
Curriculum/Product Development
Internet/Software Usage/Development
Multicultural Programs/Outreach
Public Outreach/Public Understanding of Science
Student Outreach
Student Research Opportunities
Teacher Resources and Training
Informal Science Education
Other (please specify)
Applicants also should provide the SIGNATURES OF APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS AT
THEIR INSTITUTIONS (e.g. authorizing officials and administrative authorities).
2) Project Description: Applicants must describe their proposed projects.
They must clearly and explicitly address the PROJECT GUIDELINES and
EVALUATION CRITERIA described above. Applicants must identify their
intended audience and show how their collaborators will help effectively
reach that audience.
3) Budget Narrative: Applicants must justify each budget item, paying
close attention to the BUDGET GUIDELINES above. They should include, if
applicable, a statement indicating a waiver or reduction of institutional
overhead. They also should mention the possibility of matching funds,
in-kind contributions, or other funding sources.
4) Budget Page: Applicants must attach budget itemization tables to their
budget narratives.
5) Curriculum Vitae: Brief curriculum vitae of the principal investigators
and, if appropriate, key co-investigators must be included.
6) Special Forms: Two special certification forms must accompany the three
hard copies (the original and two copies) of a proposal. Both are available
at local contracts and grants organizations. The certifications are:
Certification of a Drug Free Workplace and Certification of Debarment and
Suspension.
VIII. GRANT PERIOD
The performance period for 1996 IDEA grants will end one year after
recipients receive the grant money. Extensions will be granted for
educational activities that require phasing with the academic year.
IX. FINAL REPORTS
The IDEA grants program is experimental in nature. In order to evaluate the
program's success, each project recipient must provide a brief (one to two
pages) final report, submitted by e-mail in ascii format to idea@stsci.edu or
sent as an HTML document. Reports should include:
a) The principal investigator's name, position, and institution, and sources
of other NASA support ( if applicable).
b) The original IDEA proposal abstract.
c) A brief description of any fundamental changes that project recipients
made to their original plans and the reasons for those changes.
d) A list of the positive and negative lessons learned from the project.
e) A quantitative estimate about the human and/or financial resources that
have been leveraged by the IDEA grant activity.
f) Key points that grant recipients want included in the IDEA project forum.
g) The results of a project's evaluation.
If project recipients have developed an educational project, send copies to:
IDEA Program, OPO
Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218
Project recipients also are encouraged to send well-labeled photos or
illustrations of their activities. Selected reports and pictures will be
presented on the IDEA project forum.
X. REVIEW OF PROPOSALS
A review panel, composed of educators, astronomers, and NASA representatives,
will evaluate the IDEA grant proposals. The Space Telescope Science
Institute will provide the oversight and approval authority for the
review process, though concurrence on final selections will be provided
by NASA officials. The panel will consider each proposal's merit in
light of the guidelines and evaluation criteria listed above.
XI. PROPOSAL DEADLINE
IDEA grant proposals are required by the close of business on 15-October-96.
Decisions should be announced about 10 to 12 weeks later.
Send proposals (including the unsigned cover page, project description, and
budget sections) electronically (ascii format) to: idea@stsci.edu
AND
Send the original and two complete hard copies (including the SIGNED cover
page and the appropriate special forms, as well as the project description
and budget sections) to:
IDEA Program, OPO
Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218
XII. INQUIRIES ABOUT THE PROPOSAL PROCESS
Inquiries about the PROPOSAL process should be made directly to the Space
Telescope Science Institute: idea@stsci.edu
XIII. INQUIRIES ABOUT THE REVIEW PROCESS
Inquiries about the REVIEW process should be made directly to the Space
Telescope Science Institute's project scientist for education: idea@stsci.edu
Applicants should check their local FTP sites or the Institute's World Wide
Web home pages for any changes to this announcement.