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Bartlesville Public Schools

Posted: Aug 23, 2019 12:48 PMUpdated: Aug 23, 2019 1:43 PM

NOKACS Supports BPS Science for Third Straight Year

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Garrett Giles

The Northern Oklahoma section of the American Chemical Society is looking forward to a their third year partnering with the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation.

Executive Director Blair Ellis of the BPS Foundation said the group has committed $5,000 in science grants for the 2019-2020 school year. She said NOKACS is one of the largest scientific groups in the United States, but the local section that serves Northern Oklahoma is heavily involved in the BPS District.

The NOACS is financing the science grants as part of their mission to promote science education in Bartlesville. They normally participate in the Bartlesville Science Fairs the BPS School District puts on. Nationally, they participate in Chemistry Week, Energy Days and the Chemistry Olympiad.

The funding from the science group is given directly to the BPS Foundation. That money is then made available for teachers (Pre-K through 12th grade) within the BPS District. They simply have to apply for grant funds but the projects they request funds for have to be related to science. The grant application deadline for teachers is Monday, Oct. 14th.

As mentioned earlier, this is the third consecutive year the NOKACS has partnered with the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation. They partnered with the BPS Foundation, to award five science education grants totaling $4,080 in the 2018-2019 school year.

Three of the grants were awarded to Bartlesville High School teachers, including a $650 grant to BHS teacher, Sandra Cloud. Students in Ms. Cloud’s Advanced Placement, Honors and Chemistry I classes received calorimeters to complete thermodynamic labs. The grant allowed students to test, measure, and collect data – essential skills to develop when studying chemistry.

One science grant, benefiting elementary students, combined art and science. Art is believed to reinforce scientific and mathematical ideas in students as early as first grade. Firing pottery in a kiln is an innovative approach Hoover Elementary teacher, Lea Burke, presented in her grant request for $2,770. Over 600 students at Hoover Elementary and the district-wide GATE (gifted and talented) program used the kiln to make pottery and watched extreme heat change the clay through a calcination process.

(Photo courtesy: BPS Foundation)


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