VCU Gets $750,000 for K-12 Program

Jun 22, 01:43 PM

Current Headlines: By A.J. Hostetler, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Jun. 22--The wealthy Howard Hughes Medical Institute aims to help improve science education from kindergarten through high school in central Virginia through a five-year, $750,000 grant to Virginia Commonwealth University.

The VCU School of Medicine grant is one of 31 nationwide totaling $22.5 million the nonprofit medical research organization announced yesterday as part of its Pre-college Outreach Initiative.

VCU will use the money to develop programs to increase math and science literacy, enhance research and life sciences training for K-12 science teachers, and expand Internet-based life-sciences videos and lessons for teachers and students.

VCU's Richard J. Rezba, director of the Center for Life Sciences Education, will serve as program director for the grant. Jan F. Chlebowski, associate dean for graduate education, will work with Rezba to oversee the programs' development.

"Kids are, I think, born with natural curiosity. Our jobs as science teachers is to nurture that curiosity, not to squash it," Rezba said. "If you do things well through the elementary grades and through especially middle school . . . then by the time they get into high school, you've got them."

The grant will fund a summer day camp in science and health for elementary school students and a school-year program for middle and high school students to learn about biology, human physiology, and careers in medicine and research.

The money will support efforts for teachers as well, such as summer workshops and programs to develop lab activities and lessons in the life sciences.

Schools in Richmond, eastern Henrico County, Charles City County and Hopewell will participate in the VCU program, Rezba said.

VCU also will produce five new episodes of its "Secrets of the Sequence" video series on the Human Genome Project and related life sciences.

This is VCU's second award from the institute. Last year, VCU was awarded $1.5 million over four years to help advance undergraduate education and outreach in biology and other fields, such as chemistry, math and computer science, as they relate to biology.

The Hughes foundation, based in Chevy Chase, Md., was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist with an endowment of $14.8 billion. Since 1988, the foundation has awarded about $1.5 billion in grants.

Contact A.J. Hostetler at (804) 649-6355 or ahostetler@timesdispatch.com.

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