The Peabody Museum of Natural History has received a $350,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to fund a four-year comprehensive scientific educational program for New Haven teachers, schoolchildren and their families. The museum will work with the New Haven Public Schools, L.E.A.P. (Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership) and the Eli Whitney Museum to develop and implement programs to strengthen scientific literacy in the city.
The grant will build upon the Peabody MuseumUs long-standing tradition of community outreach and education, and will fund focused efforts on the theme of biological diversity with four New Haven elementary schools and with L.E.A.P. Four additional schools will be added each year in the grantUs third and fourth years for a total of 12 schools.
The goal of the grant is to educate and inspire New Haven students to experience the diversity of the natural world, and to generate knowledge, understanding and a positive attitude toward scientific inquiry.
"The program aims to make a substantial and lasting impact on science education within the New Haven community," says Richard L. Burger, director of the Peabody Museum. "It also represents a community initiative that Yale University strongly supports, with teachers, educators, students and scientists from many sectors of the community working together toward a common goal."
The main components of the HHMI-funded program are:
Peabody Fellows: Selected 3rd-5th grade teachers from the four New Haven elementary schools will participate as fellows in a summer institute, workshops and seminars, developing thematic units on biological diversity.
Action Lab: A mobile unit will be constructed that will include hands-on specimens, dissecting microscopes and a library. The mobile unit will visit New Haven schools and L.E.A.P. sites.
Family Programming: Museum visits for schoolchildren and their families will be facilitated throughout the school year and during the summer.
Curriculum Development: The theme of biological diversity will be further developed for after-school programs through partnership with L.E.A.P. and made available on the Internet.
Reginald Mayo, superintendent of New Haven Public Schools, says: "This new collaboration between Yale and the New Haven Public Schools aligns with our new comprehensive curriculum framework for the school system and facilitates our efforts to define our science curriculum. The opportunity for New Haven teachers to be Peabody Fellows will not only enhance their own professional development in exciting new ways, but provide useful thematic units for classroom use."
Also collaborating on the grant are the Yale Office of New Haven Affairs (ONHA) and the Yale Child Study Center. Linda Koch Lorimer, vice president and secretary of Yale, and director of the ONHA, says: "In the past four years, Yale has significantly increased its commitment to our partnerships with the city and citizens of New Haven. The Peabody has a long tradition of public service, and we are particularly enthusiastic about the museum's leadership in this new community program to promote scientific literacy."
The Peabody Museum was one of the first natural history museums in the country to develop special programs for schools. This year alone, more than 30,000 children from throughout New England participated in educational programs during school group visits to the museum.
The HHMI grant was the third largest of a total $8 million in grants awarded to 45 museums, botanical gardens, zoos and aquariums through the HHMI precollege science education program. The award provides new resources for the Peabody Museum to fulfill its educational mission and strengthens ongoing formal efforts by the museum's educators to teach schoolchildren about earth's history and the natural world.
HHMI is a medical research organization and the nation's largest philanthropy, employing scientists in cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience and structural biology. HHMI investigators conduct medical research in HHMI-funded laboratories at 72 academic medical centers and universities nationwide, including Yale.