Charleston County School District educators awarded 70 BEST grants

Charleston County School District (CCSD) is proud to announce 144 teachers combined to earn 70 Bosch Eco and STEM Teacher (BEST) grants this month. The total value of the grants is over $130,000.

BEST grants support innovative inquiry-based learning experiences. CCSD’s projects span all grade levels and content areas. Some of the creative ideas include learning about the impact of pollution on our local watershed and exploring sound and vibration through string instruments.

One of the teachers who received a BEST grant this school year is Academic Magnet High School’sMaria Desbrow. Funding will go toward hands-on learning as students use coding to build the circuitry for electronic toys and professional development for teachers on incorporating micro bits and coding in their subject areas.

“Students need hands-on experiences,” explained Desbrow. “It’s not that jobs have disappeared; they’ve changed. Current jobs require people to understand the integration between technology and computing while the curriculum focuses solely on memorization and computation.”

Three teachers at Daniel Jenkins Academy (DJA) collaborated on a grant to provide students with interdisciplinary learning in science, math, and social studies. Students in the Human Geography, Earth Science, Biology, and Algebra classes will engage in project-based learning by growing hydroponic crops. They will learn about food scarcity and the importance of urban, sustainable agriculture. In addition, they will perform experiments that address global limitations to land agriculture, including examining soil quality, water quality, desalinization when freshwater is not available, and examining weather patterns.

“Nearly all of the students in our school are living in communities with limited options to healthy food,” said Timothy Sweeney, a social studies at DJA. “Many don’t realize the impact of food scarcity on their health and community. This project has direct relevance to issues in their own lives.”

Alethea “E.C.” Setser, SAIL (Students in Accelerated Learning) teacher at Charles Pinckney Elementary, was asked by Bosch to be a champion this year based on her ability to receive a grant last school year. Mrs. Setster assisted 17 colleagues at her school and neighboring schools in applying for a winning grant. Funding will go toward innovative projects such as learning physics through pottery, studying characters in novels through 3D printing, coding, and robotics.  

For more information, contact the Division of Strategy and Communication at (843) 937-6303.