2022 STEM Grant Recipients
MINNDEPENDENT awarded STEM grants totaling more than $36,400 to 10 member schools for projects to be implemented during the 2022-2023 school year.
INNOVATION GRANTS
Academy of Holy Angels – Richfield
Annunciation School – Minneapolis
Community of Saints Regional Catholic School – West St. Paul
Hand in Hand Christian Montessori – Roseville
Legacy Christian Academy – Andover
St. John the Baptist Catholic School – Vermillion
Saint Mary’s Catholic School – Sleepy Eye
St. Michael Catholic School – St. Michael
SUSTAINABILITY GRANTS
INNOVATION GRANTS
Academy of Holy Angels – Richfield
Engineering Applications of Refractions of Light (Grades 11-12)
Refraction of Light Unit – Students will study the refraction and diffraction of light. Once the students have mastered these concepts, students will then be given the task of measuring the clarity of thin plastic used for displaying items in a retail setting. Students will have to develop their own method for quantifying the clarity of the plastic. Students will be asked to use the information gained from their scientific inquiries to develop a business proposal as to why their method should be the industry standard for measuring clarity. This unit is also designed to develop students’ analytical and communication skills.
Annunciation Catholic School – Minneapolis
Creatively Constructing – Innovation and Design Thinking with 3D Printing (Grades K-8)
At Annunciation Catholic School, we are continuously looking for forward-thinking ways for students to demonstrate their learning. We are doing this by enhancing our STEM programming to foster critical thinking, increase creativity, and find ways for students to communicate their learning in tangible and innovative ways. A forward-thinking and sustainable addition to our program would be 3D printing as it is applicable and scalable at all grades. A CAD program such as Tinkercad is most appropriate for K-8 students and will be cross-curricular. Our middle school students would demonstrate modeling when creating plant or animal cells and designing the body of a toy car to demonstrate the concepts of aerodynamics and explore the effects of the car’s design on speed and acceleration. In K-5, 3D printers would enhance our International Baccalaureate programming, specifically using the design engineering process to solve real-world problems.
Community of Saints Regional Catholic School – West St. Paul
Dash into STEM! (Grade 2)
We serve a diverse population at Community of Saints. Historically, not all students have seen themselves as mathematicians or scientists. We strategically worked since 2019 to increase access, equity, and student engagement with STEM. We have made great strides in our upper grades. As seen in our 2021 Annual Report, we hope to expand to our younger grades and build access, interest, and identity with STEM at an early age. To meet our goals, second graders will work collaboratively to explore robotics. They will design and build an obstacle course and code Dash robots to navigate their courses. In teams, students will learn from each other’s perspectives and ways of thinking. Throughout this process, we will team up with a Notre Dame Trustee STEM Fellow who is trained in providing equitable STEM opportunities for students in lower grades. This collaboration will ensure a standard of excellence for STEM in the lower grades as well as meet three language arts standards, four math standards, and four science performance expectations. This project is sustainable for many years and the materials can be used by other grades or for a variety of challenges in the future.
Hand in Hand Christian Montessori – Roseville
Woodland Restoration at Hand in Hand Christian Montessori (Grades 1-6)
This woodland restoration project is within the scope of the environmental science portion of Hand in Hand’s (HIH) Montessori STEM curriculum designed and leveled for 1st – 6th grade. Lessons include why restoration is important and how to make an impact in the school’s woodland. The engineering design process will be utilized for the approach and management. Students will be guided to identify and safely remove non-native, invasive plants and replace them with native species. We will invite local neighborhood children on scholarship to participate in a summer camp called Wild and Free where they will learn how to restore the native ecosystem. They will dig, plant, and grow in their STEM knowledge and experience. To apply this to the real world, they will bring home a native plant to plant in their home yard or park. Local neighbors and school parents will also be involved in the removal of larger nonnative invasive plants. This project not only teaches environmental responsibility within the engineering process to our students, but it is also a visible gift to our community and a positive example for other urban forests.
Legacy Christian Academy – Andover
Improving Innovation (Grades 2-12)
Each week more than 220 students enter our Innovation Lab where they are empowered to ideate, innovate, create, design, fail, and succeed. The Innovation Program at Legacy Christian Academy was launched in the fall of 2020 serving students in grades 3-12; this year, it was expanded to include second graders. We have accomplished so many amazing projects with the equipment we have, but the program has outgrown our current equipment. As the program accelerates there is a great need for even more equipment to meet the demand of our students and growing student population. This grant would allow us to expand opportunities by including additional 3D printers, a CNC machine, additional tools, and reusable materials for our younger creators.
St. John the Baptist Catholic School – Vermillion
K-4 Curriculum Update (Grades K-4)
St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Vermillion, MN is planning to upgrade our K-4 science curriculum. This grant will help us upgrade and update from an old curriculum to the Amplify science curriculum for all of our K-4 students. Amplify Science for grades K–5 is a phenomena-based science curriculum that is designed to give students engaging, realistic experiences that mirror how scientists and engineers work. Amplify is the highest-rated curriculum by independent rating group reports. This project will allow all K-4 students to participate in three science topic deep dives each year in alignment with Next Generation Science Standards and MN State Science Standards. For example, Kindergartners will take the role of scientists discovering why a monarch population has disappeared, how a pinball machine affects motion, and why one playground is warmer than another. Each class will complete three units of 22 lessons per unit. We will move away from separate individual science lessons and to science lessons that build on one another to enhance learning.
Saint Mary’s Catholic School – Sleepy Eye
Tallgrass Prairie STEMs (Grades K-12)
In 2018, the Sleepy Eye joint YES! The team, including St. Mary’s and Sleepy Eye Public School students, started a prairie restoration project by planting native forbs and grasses in the rough areas between fairways on the local golf course. (YES! = Youth Eco Solutions.) St. Mary’s School, in collaboration with the YES! Team, Sleepy Eye Community Education, and interested community partners desire to “cultivate” the prairie plots as outdoor learning spaces. The vision for “Tallgrass Prairie STEMs” is to develop MN standards-aligned curriculum, portable lesson kits, and activities for an outdoor learning program, available to teachers from both schools, operated jointly with the YES! Team in conjunction with a privately owned golf course that is open to the whole community. Intentionally crafted curriculum and activities aim to meet the MN science standard’s challenge to teach in three dimensions–science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. Tallgrass Prairie STEMs add a fourth dimension of relevant outdoor applications. St. Mary’s will embed specific lessons for grades 2, 4, 6-8, and 10-12; community education will affect grades 1-6; and YES! Team members in grades 7-12 will maintain management responsibilities for the prairie restoration efforts.
St. Michael Catholic School – St. Michael
Elementary Coding (Grades K-4)
At Saint Michael Catholic School, we seek to find opportunities for our students to engage with technology that will foster 21st-century learning skills connected to STEM. Our desire is to use the Innovation grant to purchase a classroom set of Ozobots and three BeeBot class bundles. St. Michael Catholic School would like to continue to strengthen STEM education, engage students through playful learning and encourage critical thinking in elementary grades. Both the Ozobots and the BeeBots would be integrated into Math, Language Arts, Foreign Language, Science, and Special Education giving students the opportunity to learn, problem-solve, persevere, and collaborate in grades K-4. Incorporating the Ozobots and BeeBots will provide engaging hands-on learning and opportunities for the application of knowledge for a spectrum of learners.
SUSTAINABILITY GRANTS
St. Anastasia Catholic School – Hutchinson
Five Garden Beds (Grades K-5)
The St. Anastasia school garden is a constant source of hands-on education for all our students in grades K-6. Each spring our students start seeds in their classrooms, transplant those seedlings into the garden, plant row crop seeds directly into the garden, learn to identify different seedlings and weeds, how to care for the perennial plants, cultivate the soil, and understand the plant’s needs for water and fertilizer. Their pride in doing the work and seeing results helps them to understand where their food comes from, and the work involved in growing that food. The garden has provided activities that encompass math, reading, science, art, technology, and writing. Our project is to create five raised garden beds that are easily accessible by all students. In addition, create a rain barrel water system for irrigation. One of our goals is to provide a hands-on seed-to-table learning experience for students. We hope to excite those that show curiosity about nature and to help them pursue that interest and understand how it helps them to be engaged in something they enjoy. The beds make it more accessible for all students to participate in the gardening process. Each year it will be available for students to grow in their understanding and knowledge of STEM education.
St. Pascal Regional Catholic School – St. Paul
Solar Energy and Renewable Energy Solutions (Grades 3-6)
The purpose of the project is to develop an engaging STEM unit of study where students gain an understanding of sustainable developments in energy and explore the advantages and disadvantages of using fossil fuels. Activities involving measuring energy will assist students with performing calculations and making comparisons between the costs of different types of energy. Students will read informational text that explains the principles of solar power, wind power, water power as well as many other renewable sources of energy. Investigations using the renewable energy kit and the solar experiment kits will challenge students with relevant and interesting experiments that revolve around renewable energy. During these investigations, students will refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. We’ll also experiment with and explore how our use of energy and fuel is affecting the environment. This unit will satisfy any number of state standards revolving around science. The benefits of STEM include supporting STEM literacy, STEM career exposure, and the use of evidence-based educational practices. Students will keep scientific journals, use math skills, engage in reading informational text, and use the scientific method to solve problems.