RHS science teacher awarded Innovative Educator grant

Kay Coates, RHS science teacher, received one of 12 grants awarded through Wisconsin Public Service Foundation's Innovative Educator grant program.

Since the program's inception five years ago, 53 projects have received more than $48,000 in Foundation grants. The Foundation is funded by corporation shareowners and not electric or natural gas customers. An independent panel of judges from the energy education field selected the finalists for WPS.

Coates will be using the $1,000 grant to purchase Vernier testing equipment which provides hands-on, technology-driven experiments in science and math.

"By using Vernier, students will be able to carry out experiments that had previously required expensive equipment that could only be used for one purpose," Coates said. "Vernier technology allows us to quickly and accurately conduct a variety of experiments as well as take the technology into the field to collect real time data verses bringing samples back to the lab for analysis."

This year, 25 applications were received, and 12 grants were awarded. The winning schools received a total of $11,837 for various projects. Educators from within the WPS service area were encouraged to apply for up to $1,000 for innovative teaching programs in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

Coates stated the grant will provide students an opportunity to learn how to use technology they may use in future careers like health science, natural science, and technology fields.