U of R’s Warner School receives $1.5M grant for science education project

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The University of Rochester’s Warner School received a $1.5 million Discovery Research PreK-12 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of a new effort in science education after the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s part of the COVID Connects Us: Nurturing Novice Teachers’ Justice Science Teaching (JuST) Identities project which launched on July 1.

Educators from the Warner School, the University of Connecticut Naeg School of Education, and the University of Washington’s IslandWood Graduate Program in Education for Environment and Community will team up to address mistrust in science illuminated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as methods to help teachers boost their students’ science literacy.

The program will kick off with a common kick-off COVID-19 unit developed by Warner School associate professor April Luehmann last year and partner with area doctors to bring their lived experiences into the classroom.

Click here to read more about the unit.

During the first two years, the project will include 20 different learning communities across the country that will research different strategies and approaches to make classroom instruction more equitable.

In the third year, the team will create guidelines and resources for science teachers that will be featured on a new website.