Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

12/29/04

NEWS RELEASE
Auburn School District Implements
Large Science Grant from Boeing

Last year, Auburn School District was awarded a $25,000 grant from The Boeing Company for the district’s Flight to the Future science program that provides teachers with training to implement projects to improve student performance in science.

The district’s science program is a “trainer of trainers” program and has been performed in collaboration with Green River Community College (GRCC) and Central Washington University (CWU). Elementary, middle school, and high school teachers are being trained by selected Auburn School District teachers and college professors to become building level “experts” in the use of Inquiry Science Instruction. They, in turn, train, support, and encourage other science teachers in their schools to use the inquiry process. Inquiry is one of the three Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) of science along with Systems and Application. Inquiry is the scientific investigative process to answer questions about the natural world.

Due to the Boeing grant, twelve elementary teachers were trained in November, middle school teachers will be trained in February, and high school teachers will be trained in April.

The grant funds paid for the district’s Science Review Committee to work on district science goals and projects. Additionally, the grant allowed four teachers to attend the National Science Teachers Association Conference in Seattle in November and will send three teachers to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction science conference in January.

For more information, contact Dr. Kip Herren, deputy superintendent, at (253) 931-4920.