Kellogg Community College awarded math instruction grant from National Science Foundation
The $593,783 grant was awarded to the “State-wide Professional Development to Promote Active Learning in Mathematics for Michigan Community Colleges” project, a collaboration between Kellogg Community College and the Michigan Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (MichMATYC).
Kellogg Community College has received a grant in the amount of $593,783 from the National Science Foundation for a collaborative project between the college and the Michigan Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (MichMATYC) called “State-wide Professional Development to Promote Active Learning in Mathematics for Michigan Community Colleges.”
According to an article on Kellogg Community College’s website, David Tannor, a math professor at the college and the president of MichMATYC, is serving as the principal investigator on the grant. He is collaborating with Sam Bazzi as co-investigator, who is a math professor at Henry Ford College, as well as the secretary and treasurer of MichMATYC.
Speaking of the project and its goals, Tannor is quoted as saying that the project aims “to increase Michigan community college mathematics instructors’ awareness and use of evidence-based instruction; train and mentor instructors on how to implement and sustain active learning strategies in their courses; and explore relationships between instructors’ self-efficacy for active learning and its implementation in mathematics courses.”
The project will last for three and a half years, having started in September, and will run through February 2028. The project will both create and implement two new training programs for math teachers that will focus on mentoring and active learning, as well as implement “Teaching Squares” that will see math instructors working in groups across the state for peer observation which will lead to the enhancement of their own teaching strategies.
This grant award comes via the National Science Foundation’s Innovation in Two-Year College in STEM Education program. The program is awarding $14.5 million to community colleges around the country to enhance STEM education. It awarded 35 grants as part of this initiative, including the one to Kellogg Community College and MichMATYC.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, the director of the National Science Foundation, is quoted as saying of the foundation’s grant program, “Community colleges play a critical role in training people from all parts of the country for a variety of STEM careers including future scientists, engineers, and technicians. The Innovation in Two-Year College in STEM Education program is essential to how we expand pathways and opportunities so that more talented people from every part of the nation have the opportunity to make their way into STEM.”
For more information about Kellogg Community College, visit the school’s website.