The Public Education Foundation (PEF), through the Jane Harbaugh Teacher Innovation Fund, has recently announced $7000 in awards to groups of innovative educators at eight schools in Hamilton County. Named for Dr. Jane Harbaugh, a dedicated PEF board member and retired Associate Provost for Undergraduate & Special Programs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the fund seeks to encourage the development of creative ways to engage students and spur teacher collaboration within schools. Areas of focus for the grants are environment, global awareness, technology and/or community betterment.

“We had some wonderful proposals,” said PEF Director of Teacher Quality Leslie Graitcer. “We wish we could have funded more of them. Teachers in Hamilton County schools are really working to provide some engaging, hands-on experiences for their students!”

Grants of up to $1000 have been awarded to:

Red Bank High School: Science teacher Leah Keith-Houle will lead several projects with real-life impact, including partnering with the Sim Center to create an assessment of Hamilton County’s preparedness for earthquakes and assisting TVA in assessing and preventing water pollution in Red Bank’s Stringer’s Creek.

East Ridge Elementary: Music teachers Charlene Cook of McBrien Elementary and Marilyn Medley of East Ridge Elementary are working together to create an exciting Percussion World Tour for students at the new combined school. Over 750 students will learn to play and compose their own music on a wide variety of percussion instruments from around the world.

Falling Water Elementary: 3rd grade teacher Rachel Teas will lead the Students Become Teachers project as 3rd graders work with kindergarten students to learn about recycling, create recycling bins and make toys from some of the recycled materials collected.

Brown Middle School: 6th grade art teacher Madeline Ellis will lead It’s For the Birds!, a collaboration with the Nature Center and others to help students do research on wild birds and create bird houses and feeders with recycled materials.

Soddy Daisy High School: Biology teacher Shannon Cole will lead Human Population Growth – A Geographic and Biological Perspective. Students will research, discuss and write on linkages among population, health and environmental trends, and will conduct research on how population shapes political systems, economic vitality and earth’s resources.

Tyner Academy: John Cooper leads a team of two science teachers and one math teacher in the Engineering the Garden Project. Engineering, physics, calculus and science students will all have specific roles and educational goals in building, maintaining and measuring a green house on the roof of the school, learning about sustainable agriculture, hydroponics, aquaponics and agricultural engineering.

Hixson High School: English teacher Stacy Schaudel will lead Find Your Voice and Be Heard, in which English, film studies, social studies and science students will collaborate across classes to research, write, produce and screen original short documentaries on contemporary social issues.

Howard School of Academics and Technology: Chemistry teacher Chandra Chandrasekaran will lead a project on Renewable Energy Sources in which students will build small operating models of renewable energy sources like solar, wind and fuel cells, studying how each reduces pollution.