NEH Summer Seminars & Institutes

The NEH Summer Seminars & Institutes grants support faculty development programs in the humanities for school teachers and for college and university teachers. NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes may be as short as two weeks or as long as five weeks. The duration of a program should allow for a rigorous treatment of its topic. NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes extend and deepen knowledge and understanding of the humanities by focusing on significant topics, texts, and issues; contribute to the intellectual vitality and professional development of participants; build a community of inquiry and provide models of civility and excellent scholarship and teaching; and promote effective links between teaching and research in the humanities. An NEH Summer Seminar or Institute may be hosted by a college, university, school system, learned society, center for advanced study, library or other repository, or a cultural or professional organization. The host site must be appropriate for the project, providing facilities for scholarship and collegial interaction. These programs are designed for a national audience of teachers.

Amount: $200,000

Date due: March 1, 2011

For more information, click here.

Discovery Research K-12 (STEM focus)

The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program seeks to enable significant advances in student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines. Projects funded under this solicitation begin with a research question or hypothesis about how to improve preK-12 STEM learning and teaching and then develop, implement, and study effects of innovative educational resources, models, or technologies. DR K-12 invites proposals that meet a variety of educational needs, from those that address immediate challenges facing preK-12 STEM education to those that anticipate the future when expectations, roles and resources are likely to be aligned in different ways. DR K-12 especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10-15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to support learning. 

Project goals, designs, and working strategies should be informed by prior research and practical experience drawn from all relevant disciplines and they should focus on concepts and skills that are central to STEM disciplines. Tthe DR K-12 program has the more focused goal of fostering the creation of a new generation of resources, models, and tools that take full advantage of the capabilities of information and communications technologies to enhance the education of K-12 learners. The DR K-12 program accepts proposals for exploratory projects, full research and development projects, and synthesis projects, as well as for conferences and workshops related to the mission of the program.


Amount: Varies


Date due: Letter of Intent (11/05/10); Full proposal (01/06/11)


For more information, click here.

Climate Literacy

The goal of this funding opportunity is to support K-12 education projects that advance inquiry-based Earth System Science learning and stewardship directly tied to the school curriculum, with a particular interest in increasing climate literacy. To address this goal, this solicitation will support service-learning and professional development projects related to NOAA's mission in the areas of ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, weather and climate sciences and stewardship. A successful project will catalyze change in K-12 education at the state, regional and national level through development of new programs and/or revision of existing programs to improve the environmental literacy of K-12 teachers and their students. A successful project will also leverage NOAA assets, although use of non- NOAA assets is also encouraged. The target audiences for this funding opportunity are K-12 students, pre- and in-service teachers, and providers of pre-service teacher education and in-service teacher professional development. There is a special interest in projects that address reaching groups traditionally underserved and/or underrepresented in Earth System science. One group that has been identified as underserved is elementary level teachers and students. This funding opportunity has two priorities, which are equal in their importance for funding. Priority 1 is for innovative proof-of-concept projects that are one to two years in duration, for a total minimum request of $200,000 and a total maximum request of $500,000. Priority 2 is for full-scale implementation of educational projects that are three to five years in duration, for a total minimum request of $500,001 and a total maximum request of $1,500,000.

Amount: Varies (see priorities noted above)

Date due: January 12, 2011

For more information, click here.

Office of Naval Research STEM initiative for K-12 & Higher Education

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) mission is to: foster an interest in, knowledge of, and study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics nationwide to ensure an educated and well-prepared workforce, which meets the naval and national competitive needs. In support of this mission, the following five goals have been identified:

• Inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. [Grades K-10]
• Engage students in STEM-related hands-on learning activities using Navy content. [Grades 3-12]
• Educate students to be well-prepared for employment in STEM disciplines in the Navy or in supporting academic institutions or the Naval contractor community. [Higher Education]
• Employ, retain and develop Naval STEM professionals. [Higher Education, Professional Development, Faculty]
• Collaborate across Naval STEM programs to maximize benefits to participants and the Navy.

The purpose of this announcement is to receive proposals in support of the Office of Naval Research’s mission of scientific outreach and education in working to develop the next generation of scientists capable of providing support to the continued development of critical technologies in support of the Department of Defense.

Amount: $200,000/year for 3 years

Date due: September 30, 2011

For more information, click here.

Update on IES research priorities

From -- Inside School Research

The Institute of Education Sciences published a proposed list of research priorities yesterday. (Thanks to Jim Kohlmoos of the Knowledge Alliance for alerting me to the Federal Register notice making the announcement.)

If you've been following the media reports on IES Director John Easton's talks and interviews, you have a pretty good idea what those priorities are. IES is placing a big emphasis, for instance, on the idea that "effective education research must be informed by the interests and needs of education practitioners and policymakers."

"To this end," the priorities list reads, "the Institute will encourage close partnerships between researchers and practitioners in the conceptualization, planning, and conduct of research and evaluation." Indeed, that kind of collaborative focus is already embedded in some of the research grants the institute has given out this year.

The priorities also reflect the new director's interest in: looking beyond student achievement and studying "the behaviors, skills, and dispositions that support learning in school and later success in life"; learning how to generate higher-order thinking in students; developing "innovative approaches" to improve education outcomes; developing a better understanding of the educational processes through which policies and programs affect students; and studying the context of schooling.

When it comes to study methods, the priorities reiterate the institute's long-standing commitment to "rigorous scientific methods." But they also say "the work of the institute will include a variety of research and statistical methods" and that the IES will work to ensure that the methods used are appropriate to the questions being asked.

These priorities aren't yet set in stone. The institute will accept comments from the public until Sept. 7. The National Board for Education Sciences, which advises the institute, has to weigh in on them, too. That's likely to happen in the fall when the newly reconstituted board convenes.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education

The U.S. Department of Education announces the release of the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE). The Comprehensive Program supports innovative grants and cooperative agreements to improve postsecondary education. It supports reforms, innovations, and significant improvements of postsecondary education that respond to problems of national significance and serve as national models.

Invitational Priorities:

1. Centers of excellence for teacher preparation as described in section 242 of the HEA.

2. University sustainability initiatives as described in section 881 of HEA.

3. Rural development initiatives for rural-serving colleges and universities as described in section 861 of HEA.

4. Initiatives to assist highly qualified minorities and women to acquire doctoral degrees in fields where they are underrepresented as described in section 807 of HEA.

5. Modeling and simulation programs as described in section 891 of HEA.

6. Higher education consortia to design and offer interdisciplinary programs that focus on poverty and human capability as described in section 74(a)(11) of HEA.

7. Innovative postsecondary models to improve college matriculation and graduation rates, including activities to facilitate transfer of credits between institutions of higher education, alignment of curricula on a state or multi-state level between high schools and colleges and between two-year and four-year postsecondary programs, dual enrollment and articulation agreements and partnerships between high schools and community colleges, and partnerships between K-12 organizations and colleges for college pathway programs.

8. Activities to develop or enhance educational partnerships and cross-cultural cooperation between postsecondary educational institutions in the United States and similar institutions in Haiti.

Amount: $750,000

Date due: July 29, 2010

For more information, click here.

PGE Foundation Grants supporting Education

The PGE Foundation is committed to improving the quality of life in Oregon by awarding grants in the areas of education, healthy families, and arts and culture. In the education category, the Foundation supports a wide range of programs, from preschool through college. In the healthy families category, the focus is on organizations that work to promote services in all areas of health, including hunger, mental health, homelessness, domestic violence, health care, etc. In the arts and culture category, the Foundation strives to educate all ages through the support of arts curriculum development as well as a variety of cultural performances.

Amount: $2,500 - $10,000

Date due: The remaining 2010 deadlines for letters of inquiry are July 13 and November 16.

For more information, click here.