2020-2021 DARING Innovation Grant Recipients
The District 128 Foundation for Learning continued its mission to enhance and enrich learning in Community High School District 128 by awarding six DARING Innovation Grants totaling $9,074.00 to Libertyville High School and Vernon Hills High School teachers. The 2020-2021 grant winners were announced and celebrated during the 1-28 Day of Giving on January 28, 2021. This year's grants brought the number of grants awarded by the Foundation since 2008 to 169 and the total dollars funded to $254,813.33. In addition, the Foundation has given money to the high schools for project funding and assistance for students in need. To date, the Foundation has given LHS and VHHS $480,420.72 in funding for these initiatives.
The 2020-2021 DARING Innovation Grants Winners
Bring to Life the IOT: Internet of Things - Everything is becoming connected to the internet: your wrist, your fridge, your car, your house, etc. The IOT is about learning how to connect those things better with new ways to collect and analyze data. Working with a combination of sensors and micro-computers, students will integrate their engineering, robotics, and programming skills to build small electronic devices. This project gives students in Advanced Topics in Computer Science the chance to work with a variety of tools in the IOT field. $2,000, VHHS Mathematics - Adam Lueken; LHS Mathematics - Teresa Elmore
Crazy Circuits Bit Board and Sewing Projects - Crazy Circuits Bit Boards and Sewing Kits will enable students of all levels to experience computer science in a physical and engaging manner. The bit board kits help students build their own LEGO creations that can be controlled by software they have written for the micro:bit device. The sewing kits are used to incorporate technology into fabrics and wearable devices.These activities allow students to put their coding skills to use in new ways, using their creativity and imagination. $2,000, LHS Mathematics - Teresa Elmore, Christine Falkstrom; VHHS Mathematics - Adam Lueken, Ryan Feeney
Dynamic Hands-on Modeling to Engage and Captivate Cutting Edge Science Technology - Students achieve a better understanding of multiple biotechnology concepts including diagnostics, forensics, and bacterial transformation with a single hands-on modeling kit. Polymerase Chain Reaction and Nucleotide Gene Sequencing are changing the world of personalized medicine and rapid diagnostic testing. This project funds manipulatives, and being able to manipulate these processes is the ideal foundation for the understanding of PCR and Gene Sequencing. Through inquiry and model building, students will use a hands-on approach to understand biological technologies. $651, VHHS Science - Chris Wolf
German Language-Exchange Platform: Virtual Conversation Partners - This project allows German students to converse with native Germans in a safe virtual space and practice their interpersonal speaking skills. Students are given a conversation topic and then prepare vocabulary and study history and culture to successfully communicate. This project provides a live and tangible learning experience in a natural setting. $1,440, LHS World Languages - Heidi Lechner
Outdoor Education Cold Water Immersion - This project enhances the Hypothermia and Ice Rescue lessons given in Outdoor Education. By providing cold water immersion suits, students can experience and practice struggling in cold water as well as gain an understanding of the necessary protocols to follow in an emergency. $2,085, VHHS Physical Welfare - Jerry Miceli, Jesse Wolter
Slow Motion Physics - A commercial-grade high speed (slow motion) camera will capture events too difficult to see with the naked eye: slinky free fall, bubbles forming and bursting, impacts, collisions, deformations, combustion, fluid dynamics, center of mass, simultaneous events, and Newton's first law demonstrations. Slowing time benefits student scientists because they can analyze physical phenomena and gather data to make arguments from evidence instead of conjecture. $898, LHS Science - Mark Buesing, Brandon Murchison, Suzanne Torrence
Total Grants Funded for 2020-2021 - $9,074.00
Founded in 2007, the Foundation for Learning was established to enhance and enrich the instructional program in District 128 by obtaining resources through community partnerships.