Toshiba America, Inc. - Toshiba America Foundation

Battle Creek Academy (Battle Creek, MI)
Project Dates: March 2000-March 2001

$11,160 for 70 middle and high school math and science students to increase their comprehension of geometry, algebra, chemistry, biology, and physical science with the assistance of an interactive white board, LCD projector, and educational software. This visual technology enables teachers and students to interact with visual computer demonstrations of science experiments and complex mathematical explanations. Options to alter computerized lessons through the board enable teachers to tailor the curriculum to the needs of their class. Student and instructor modifications to the demonstrations can be saved to files for students to refer to for independent learning and study.

Berlin-Milan Local Schools (Milan, OH)
Project Dates: March 2000-March 2001

$5,210 for over 500 high school science students to benefit from the establishment of a lab that will make tools, material, media and technological resources accessible. The new technology lab, with educational software and one instructional computer, will foster a work environment that is supportive of scientific inquiry. Topics to be explored in the lab include human anatomy, principals of heredity, global tectonics and cellular biology.

Bountiful High School (Bountiful, UT)
Project Dates: September 2000-June 2001

$10,500 for 175 10th-12th grade biology and physics students from two high schools to study the migratory patterns of the Western Tundra Swan. Students will be working with field scientists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to collar swans with remote transmitters in order to track their movement from Alaska through Utah to California via satellite on the Internet. Biology students will be studying the behavior, habitat, niche, and diet of the swans, while physics students will examine the properties of electromagnetic waves and the Doppler shift as it relates to resolving a location.

Maryvale Middle School (Cheektowaga, NY)
Project Dates: July 2000-July 2001

$6,660 for 210 7th grade students studying earth and environmental science to augment their study of plate tectonics, meteorology, and oceanography through the use of a portable planetarium. The 3-dimensional interactive presentations will enhance the environmental and earth science being taught by actively engaging them. With the use of this technology, the school will be able to build further upon its use of their planetarium as venue to educate students in earth science.

Millwood School (Midlothian, VA)
Project Dates: September 2000-June 2001

$7,790 for 100 7th and 8th grade science students will learn and utilize the scientific method by obtaining, culturing, counting, and identifying bacteria from sand located in various shore environments. Based on their analysis of the bacteria, students will form conclusions on the quality of the water at these shore locations and make predictions about the bacteria’s relationship to the environment. Students will present their findings to community associations and officials at the local water treatment facility.

Mitchell Senior High School (Mitchell, SD)
Project Dates: September 2000-November 2000

$6,420 for 60 high school environmental science students to calculate the water quality index in a local creek by collecting, identifying, and analyzing the types of macroinvertebrates found there. After establishing the results of the water quality, students will prepare a final report of team findings to include water quality, significance of factors tested, sources contributing to the water quality and maintenance and/or improvement in the quality of the stream. Participating students will share their experiences with elementary school students to teach them about macroinvertibrates, water quality and stewardship of water.

Ocean Institute (Dana Point, CA)
Project Dates: March 2000-December 2000

$22,770 for 1,200 middle and high school students to have the unique opportunity to take part in the real-life development of an earth and marine science center. Together with their science teachers and Ocean Institute scientists, students will be involved in the planning, review, and testing phases of the project. Topics to be tested and learned include bioacoustics, underwater geosciences, sound and energy, as well as inter-tidal systems and invertebrate zoology. The pilot project will result in grade-appropriate teaching stations, including a wave tank, oceanographic research buoy, and a geology and meteorology teaching station.

Project Del Rio/The Tides Center (Las Cruces, NM)
Project Dates: March 2000-October 2000

$19,800 for over 500 high school students from 12 Mexican schools in the lower Rio Grande to work on this collaborative project with Project del Rio, a binational environmental education program operating throughout the Rio Grande watershed. Students monitor the water quality in the Rio Grande, compare data upstream and down, identify water issues and begin taking important steps locally to understand these issues and affect positive change in their community often with the help of local professionals. Project del Rio and its participating schools share a common overarching goal of preparing students to become more active and effective members in protecting the health and environment of their communities particularly with respect to the Rio Grande watershed. This project was funded by the Toshiba America Foundation in 1998 and was very successful. This year's proposal involves 12 different participating schools.

Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Project Dates: September 1, 2000-June 30, 2001

$24,000 for 30,000 students of all ages per year to learn about astronomy and the nighttime sky through a School Visits Program. An experienced and trained astronomy teacher from ROM will use a mobile planetarium to support teachers in their instruction of astronomy. Students will learn to identify key constellations, distinguish between different types of stars, distinguish between stars and planets, identify the main characteristics of the planets, and develop a greater understanding and exploration of fundamental concepts and skills that are central to an appreciation of our world and the stars.

Shoreham-Wading River High School (Shoreham, NY)
Project Dates: March 2000-March 2001

$6,980 for over 400 high school biology and chemistry students to integrate technology into their laboratory and field experiments through the use of calculator-based laboratory systems (CBLs). The new technology will allow students to obtain more accurate data for quantitative experiments and present more realistic findings with their investigations. Chemistry students will use the CBLs to enhance their learning of matter and measurement, chemical equilibrium, and endothermic and exothermic energy, while biology students will use the CBLs to enhance their learning of cell respiration, heart rate, and dissolved oxygen.

South Jones High School (Ellisville, MS)
Project Dates: March 2000-June 2001

$11,950 for 750 7th and 8th grade students and 600 9th grade students to benefit from a more in-depth and hands-on study of astronomy and biology through the purchase of a Starlab System, a portable teaching environment that can be brought into the classroom. Middle school students studying a unit on space will develop observation and inquiry skills through their research on the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. Students will learn how to predict the motions of these celestial objects and calculate the distance between planets. High school biology students will use the Starlab Dome to study the workings of a one-celled organism at one millionth-time magnification.

Summit Middle School (Boulder, CO)
Project Dates: June 2000-June 2001

$9,330 for 75 8th grade students to participate in hands-on interdisciplinary explorations in environmental and physical sciences. Students will work with teachers and volunteer scientists to choose a project based on their interests, design experiments, and determine which parameters to investigate. They will also decide how to best present their results and demonstrate their mastery of the technology. Possible topics for exploration include biotechnology, environmental science, physics, chemistry, robotics, lasers and optics, and racing cars.

Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium (Brooklyn, NY)
Project Dates: October 2000-June 2001

$11,780 for 100 8th grade earth science students from McKinley Junior High School in Brooklyn to study the horseshoe crab and other invertebrates to gain understanding of how geological time scale and climate affect the rise and fall of animals. The students will learn how animals’ adaptations, ecosystems, climate, and natural phenomena are all inter-related. This collaboration between the school and the Aquarium combines classroom lessons with hands-on learning experiences in the field.

$4,950 for 150 exercise physiology students to learn about the effects of exercise on the respiratory system by monitoring their own lung capacity and oxygen utilization. The grant will be used to purchase a spirometer, an instrument for measuring the volume of air entering and leaving the lungs. Students will learn to collect, measure and analyze their lung capacity, forced volume capacity, slow volume capacity, oxygen uptake and the maximal rate of oxygen uptake. Students will then have an opportunity to modify their behavior and monitor the effects on their own body.

$2,500 for 30 high school students to design, engineer, construct, and test an alternative fuel vehicle. Students will apply math skills to calculate distance, speed, weight, and dimensions for the vehicle, friction and efficiency. Lessons in science will help explain what is happening at an atomic level during electric current flow. Chemistry principals will be applied to help students understand why some materials are lighter and stronger then others, and physics will be used to help analyze the vehicle's performance.

$2,060 for 200 algebra, trigonometry, and calculus students to increase their ability to perform mathematical calculations without the use of a calculator by learning to use a slide-rule, a device consisting of two logarithmically scaled rules mounted to slide along each other so that multiplication, division and more complex computations may be reduced to the mechanical equivalent of addition or subtraction. The project will lead to increased understanding of mathematical calculations and algorithms by insuring that students learn the concepts and processes behind the calculations that are often lost when using a calculator.

$2480 for 90 7^th grade aerospace science students to construct radio controlled airplanes that will allow them to experience the physics related to flight. Students will learn the concepts of Newton’s Laws, Bernoulli’s Principal, Forces of Flight and Controlled flight in the classroom, and then apply these concepts as they build balsa gliders, spend time on a simulator, and fly a radio controlled airplane.

$2,530 for 60 advanced algebra students to participate in a series of experiments and laboratory activities that will improve their long-term retention of algebra concepts and applications. Students will use discovery and problem solving to collect and analyze data with the aid of scientific probes and graphing equipment. Through scientific activities, students will learn about linear functions and graphs, polynomials and radical expressions, quadratic functions and inequalities, exponential and logarithmic functions and trigonometric graphs and identities.