Calvert County Public Schools (CCPS) is the recipient of a $37,000 Raytheon-EiE District Scholarship to support engineering in elementary schools. The district will use the award to implement the EiE (Engineering is Elementary) unit “A Sticky Situation: Cleaning an Oil Spill” with all fifth graders this fall.
“This is a great investment in the Calvert County schools,” says Janel McPhillips, the district’s PreK-8 science supervisor. “We’re surrounded by water here in Calvert County—the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay. The activities in the oil spill unit will also link to our state standards for environmental literacy.”
Each $37,000 Raytheon-EiE scholarship supports a professional development workshop for 25 teachers, EiE classroom materials for each teacher, and tuition for a district representative to attend a Teacher Educator Institute to build the skills to deliver EiE professional development for more teachers in the district. “We would not have been able to do this without the Raytheon scholarship,” McPhillips says.
Raytheon-EiE District Scholarships are one element of a $2 million award by Raytheon to the Museum of Science, Boston to jumpstart use of the curriculum in schools nationwide. Twelve district scholarships have been awarded to date.