Grant Fills School Year with Innovation

A total of 14 San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) campuses and departments kicked off the new school year, which began Aug. 3, with some innovative ideas thanks to Innovation Grants. The SBCUSD Board of Education awarded the Innovation Grants as part of its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). In February, local educators, parents, and community members were invited to apply for LCAP funding to improve and expand the instruction offered by specific SBCUSD schools and departments. Innovation Grants touched on a wide variety of student-focused areas, including health and wellness, hands-on learning, and technology-assisted instruction. “The scope of the grants proves that the San Bernardino community is open to new approaches to education and has a wealth of creativity and energy that we can tap to make the San Bernardino City Unified School District the leading experts in human learning,” Superintendent Dr. Dale Marsden said. George Brown Elementary School received an Innovation Grant to create a Maker Space and Coding Lab that will provide students with access to computers, the Internet, Lego bricks, electronic parts, batteries, and craft items. Students can explore their imaginations and express their creativity while learning computer-programming skills and design and engineering concepts. Students can work together or individually to create computer programs and animation or simple products and machines. These skills may eventually help students become website developers, mobile app creators, video game designers, engineers, and architects. Nikki Blackburn, who wrote the grant proposal, said, “We have many bright, talented students who don’t express themselves well with pencil and paper. I want to give those students a chance to express their creativity and problem-solving skills in an open, nurturing environment that lets them use their hands and their minds to show what they know.” Across the nation, maker spaces are the most recent and collaborative experiments in human learning and creativity. The idea is to bring together people from all backgrounds and skill sets and give them a space to share their knowledge and experience and to inspire and equip them to make things, everything from computer games to new fashion designs. Pacific High School also received an Innovation Grant to create a maker space. Math teacher Steven Ryser applied for the grant so that students could learn about the engineering process and apply it to solve real-world problems. The $100,000 grant will purchase a 3D printer, CNC (computer numerically controlled) laser cutter, a professional wood working station, ten computers, and a small electronics station, so students can create prototypes of their designs. The maker space will support Pacific’s engineering career pathway and be open to the community. Community members will be encouraged to make donations to use the equipment. The Innovation Grant awarded to Holcomb Elementary School, formerly Little Mountain Elementary School, is helping the campus become an International Baccalaureate (I.B.) school. Holcomb is currently an I.B. Primary Years Program candidate school, and 16 teachers have attended the required training. After successfully completing the application process, Holcomb will provide students with a challenging, internationally recognized curriculum that will feed into the existing I.B. Middle Years Program at Chavez Middle School and the I.B. Diploma Program at Cajon High School. This Innovation grant will create an International Baccalaureate hub in San Bernardino. I.B. curriculum includes a focus on applied learning, and Cajon High’s Innovation Grant will give all students the chance to apply their biology, chemistry, and environmental science studies to hands-on research projects. The grant will pay for the construction of a greenhouse and research garden, which will simulate the environment used in higher education and professional research facilities. Students, especially those in the Health Science and Medical Technology career pathway program, will be able to practice propagation techniques and DNA extraction and analysis of various plants, which will prepare them for careers in botany and medical research.