| | | OSAC Grant Projects
Since 1967, leading American business firms have been engaged in helping bring educational excellence to American children attending schools overseas through the Overseas Schools Advisory Council (OSAC). The Department of State established OSAC that year to seek the advice and capabilities of American leaders from the business, foundation, and educational communities in pursuing the goal of assuring quality education for American children attending schools overseas. The Council's Educational Assistance Program provides grant awards totaling approximately $150,000 annually for educational projects that ultimately reach over 94,000 students in 129 countries. MAIS has received OSAC grants for the following projects: | | | | 1 | MAIS ZOOM
Project MAIS ZOOM is integrating exciting new technology into MAIS school science curricula in grades 3 through 8. Microscopes with attached digital cameras (DigiScopes) linked to personal computers are keyed to Project AERO science and technology standards and existing MAIS curricula. Project ZOOM is preparing a leadership cadre of MAIS teachers as Digital Microscopy Leaders or DMLs. During each of the MAIS Fall Conferences in Cairo and Rome, a cadre of 15 grades 3 to 8 teacher DMLs have been or will be prepared to introduce digital microscopy into their own classrooms and to diffuse ZOOM technology and educational strategies to their grade level colleagues, school leaders, parents, and others. Each teacher receives two DigiScopes plus related materials for classroom use and are encouraged and assisted in securing more DigiScopes from local funds.
ZOOM provides a new way for teachers and their students to “zoom in” during science. A DigiScope is a digital camera hooked to a microscope that enables images to be displayed on a computer screen. Exhibiting both good magnification and resolution, the DigiScope is ideal for capturing images of Daphnia, Protozoa, Hydra, Planaria, flower pollen, insect eye parts, a mosquito’s proboscis, crystals, plant and animal cells, a flea’s leg, vinegar eels and much, much more. Further, the camera can be taken out of the microscope body to look at things that won’t fit on a slide—like human fingerprints, mosquito larvae, nematodes, and germinating seeds. Beyond displaying “tiny worlds,” DigiScopes can capture movement in time-lapse sequences, save images in a file, or print them. MAIS students using DigiScope technology have “gee whiz” science experiences. Enthusiasm and interest run very high and are sustained with each new discovery. There are lots of expressions of “Awesome!,” “Cool!,” and “Hey, look at this!!!”
Project MAIS ZOOM utilizes linked technology to pique students curiosity and stir their interest, provides opportunities for collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking, and, through technology, to illustrate ideas, concepts, and theories that promote a significantly deeper and broader understandings than those provided by traditional instructional techniques and materials. Students use these tools to experience and better understand everyday phenomena that are difficult to see with the naked eye. ZOOM better prepares MAIS students for continuing academic success, entry into careers in a technological economy, and for the challenges of life. | 
| | | 2 | MAIS K-6 SCIENCE and MATHEMATICS ACTIVITIES for REGION TEACHERS MAIS SMART
The title of this proposed project is MAIS K-6 Science and Mathematics Activities for Region Teachers or for short, Project MAIS SMART. The project will adopt, modify, and develop combined, integrative science and mathematics activities for Kindergarten through Grade 6. Science and mathematics will be interwoven, mirroring how science and math are connected in the real world. To those activities will be added (1.) related children’s literature components (children’s books) to reinforce language arts with special sensitivity to the needs of children for whom English is a second language (ESL) or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and (2.) Family Activities in Science and Technology (FAST) Packets including materials for conducting simple science/math/technology activities with a related children’s book—all designed to encourage home-school communication. All SMART activities will be coordinated with local MAIS school science and math curricula and keyed to appropriate standards of Project AERO, the National Science Education Standards (NSES), and the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (PSSM).
Selected MAIS teachers will be prepared to utilize Project SMART resources at two consecutive MAIS Conferences, Grades K to 3 teachers in Portugal in November of 2004 and Grades 4 to 6 teachers at the November 2005 MAIS Conference in Cairo or an alternate site yet to be named. This cadre of SMART teacher leaders will implement integrated science and mathematics lessons in their own classrooms, build and utilize FAST Pacs with their students and students’ families, and provide leadership for disseminating SMART activities among other teachers in their schools.
Project SMART has important implications for MAIS schools. At the conclusion of this project in March 2006, most of the 25 MAIS schools will have been involved, approximately 50 K-6 teachers prepared for science/math integration and school leadership, 350 teachers participating in school site staff development programs, and approximately 4,000 elementary children benefiting from connected science and math lessons fortified by children’s literature—an approach to education that involves students in high interest, concrete activities, improved knowledge and skills in science and mathematics, and real world applications to school, careers, and life.
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| | | 3 | MAIS K-6 SCIENCE INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION, AND DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
The purpose of MAIS K-6 Science Inquiry, Investigation, and Design Technology, or for short, MAIS K-6 Science Inquiry, is to prepare and assist teachers in 25 MAIS schools to engage K-6 students in inquiry, in the processes of science, in problem solving and critical thinking, in designing and conducting investigations, and in communicating and defending conclusions—skills important across the curriculum and throughout life. It will utilize inquiry-based, hands-on science to speed alignment with the standards of Project AERO (American Education Reaches Out) and the USA National Science Education Standards (NSES) and help meet the expectations of school accreditation agencies. Implementation successes will be shared with other international schools worldwide. The ultimate beneficiaries will be K-6 students in international schools who will be better able to act and think in ways associated with inquiry, utilize science in their daily lives, and compete successfully in a global economy and world increasingly dependent upon science and technology.
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| | | 4 | MAIS K-6 STANDARDS-BASED SCIENCE CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT PROJECT
Purpose: The purpose of MAIS K-6 Standards-Based Science Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, or for short, MAIS K-6 Science Standards, is to lead and assist 25 MAIS schools in aligning their K-6 science curricula, instruction, and assessment with those of Project AERO (American Education Reaches Out) complemented by the USA National Science Education Standards (NSES) and to share their implementation successes with other international schools worldwide. The ultimate beneficiaries will be K-6 students in international schools who will be better prepared to succeed in academic science programs, utilize science in their daily lives, and compete successfully in a global economy and world increasingly dependent upon science and technology.
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| | | 5 | THE MAIS PLACE
A professional development page serving educators in the United States and American Overseas Schools and the international school community. This is a source for comprehensive online professional development opportunities for teachers and administrators using Internet resources, asynchronous distance education, and discussion and chat groups. |
| | | 6 | ECO-MAIS
The ECO-MAIS project is designed to assist K-12 international schools in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Egypt, Cyprus, Morocco, and Tunisia to develop, construct, and use schoolyard habitat study sites. |
| | | 7 | MAIS SCI-LIT LINKS
A project that seeks to enhance science in grades K-6 in all MAIS schools by linking science experiences, investigations, and experiments with children’s literature now in schools’ language arts curricula or with high-interest supplementary trade books. |
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