Colby College will receive a $500,000 Award for the
Integration of Research in Education (AIRE), the National
Science Foundation announced today [Sept. 23, 1998]. The money will
bolster Colbys efforts to integrate research into its
natural sciences program, and local K-12 students will
benefit from an expansion of the colleges partnership
with area school systems.
The award provides funding over a three-year period
to make curricular enhancements and to build research
components into upper-level science and math courses
as well as courses that fulfill distribution requirements
for all Colby students.
According to NSF Acting Deputy Director Joe Bordogna,
the AIRE grants help create a discovery-rich environment
where institutions and their students can benefit from
making research an essential component of school curriculum.
Colbys AIRE proposal was a natural extension of the
colleges 1991 Plan for the Sciences, whose theme was
education through research. That plan focused more
attention on interdisciplinary learning and emphasized
research in regular classroom work. Research integrated
in learning promotes hands-on and collaborative learning
opportunities for students and fosters analytical and
critical thinking skills.
The AIRE money will strengthen the overall program and
provide new research possibilities through interdepartmental
linkages and a smaller student-to-teacher ratio. It
also will fund an expansion of Colbys outreach to area
school systems by sponsoring several workshops for
K-12 teachers.
NSF program officials say Colby was chosen for its commitment
to providing undergraduates an experience rooted in
the process of discovery, and to set the stage for
life-long inquiry and learning. Competition for the
grant was keen; more than 140 colleges applied and
just 10 were funded.
We are excited about this NSF award and the possibilities
it provides for our undergraduates, said F. Russell
Cole, the Oak Professor of Biological Sciences and
co-project director (with Dean of the Faculty Edward
Yeterian) for Colbys AIRE grant. Cole said the grant
recognizes Colby's many accomplishments in the sciences
during the last decade as well as plans for future
innovation. He concluded, We are also excited about way
it will expand opportunities for local school districts
participating in the Colby Partnership for Science
Education.