Bennington Middle School 6th Grade Science Department sought a way to enhance its Thermal Energy Unit, to increase student engagement for a deeper level of understanding of the content.
Through the Foundation’s Classroom Grant program, they were able to incorporate a hands-on science project that allowed students to do just that through a week-long, inquiry-based lab.
“Our inquiry-based approach has a profound impact on student learning and achievement as it provides choice, encourages students to evaluate their beliefs and ideas through real-world application, and infer implications for future courses of action,” said Lindsay Wilson, 6th Grade Teacher, “Students generated questions, planned and designed experiments, collected and communicated data, analyzed evidence and drew conclusions based on their findings.
Compact thermal cameras, infrared thermometers and rechargeable batteries are among the re-usable items purchased through the grant, which impacted the current 160 6th graders and future students for years to come.
“We greatly appreciate the support of the Foundation for enabling this opportunity for students,” said Wilson, “It really helps students to better develop conceptual understanding of ideas by representing the ideas in numerous ways!”
