Attention Middle School Science Teachers throughout Arkansas:

The Arkansas Community Foundation Middle School Science Minigrant program provides $500 awards to Arkansas public school teachers in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 to purchase consumable science materials. Kits are permitted if they are grade standard based and meet the State Science Frameworks requirements. All proposals should conform to the new science frameworks as published in late February 2006. You may link to the application materials for this program by clicking on the icon below. 

As a middle school science teacher, you know first hand how science experiments can be costly to execute and can easily exhaust consumable materials for classroom projects. Have you ever felt that your teaching ability is restricted by the narrow confines of a limited school financial budget? Have you considered seeking outside help from funding institutions that are capable of giving you financial assistance in this area? I you answered “yes” to these questions, you should consider applying for an Arkansas Community Foundation Middle School Science Minigrant!

Last year Jackie Daniel, a sixth grade science teacher at McRae Middle School of Prescott, Arkansas, applied for a grant.  Her proposal was to fund a rocket building assignment for her students. The school could not afford the experiment so students had to absorb the cost of their own rockets, and many could not afford to participate.  “I wanted all my students involved in the rocket building process,” commented Ms. Daniel. Thanks to the Minigrant Program gift of $500.00, all of her students built rockets in groups of two. In addition, she used the grant funds to purchase consumables for her students to use in various hands-on activities such as diffusion, magnification and microscopes, metric measurement, variation of species, expansion and contraction of matter.

2008 grant cycle opens February 15, 2008

Deadline for receipt of applications is May 1, 2008

We may inaugurate online application capability later this year.  We will publish this link on this webpage as soon as we’re sure it will work smoothly for you.  Both online and paper applications will be accepted this year.  Deadline for either method of submission is May 1, 2008.