ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY GRANTS FOR FORMAL K-12 EDUCATION

Grant: Environmental Literacy Grants for Formal K-12 Education
Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce
Division: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Deadline: Required pre-proposals are due September 8, 2010, and full applications are due January 12, 2011.

Description: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Environmental Literacy Grants program provides support to improve environmental literacy among citizens and to promote a diverse workforce in ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, weather and climate sciences, with the goal of encouraging stewardship and increasing informed decision making. The program supports Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education through a focus on Earth Systems Science and Environmental Education.

The goal of this funding opportunity is to support K-12 education projects that advance inquiry-based Earth System Science learning and stewardship directly tied to the school curriculum, with particular interest in increasing climate literacy. To address this goal, this solicitation will support service-learning and professional development projects related to NOAA's mission in the areas of ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, weather and climate sciences and stewardship.

A successful project will catalyze change in K-12 education through development of new programs and/or revision of existing programs to increase the environmental literacy of K-12 teachers and their students. The target audiences for this funding opportunity are K-12 students, pre- and in-service teachers and providers of pre-service teacher education and in-service teacher professional development. There is a special interest in projects that address reaching groups traditionally underserved and/or underrepresented in Earth System science. One group that has been identified as underserved is elementary level teachers and students. Therefore, there is a special interest in projects that address the STEM needs in elementary-level education. A list of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields can be found in the 2010 National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators Report.

All projects must focus on at least one of the following formal K-12 education activities:

• Service-learning projects for K-12 students that promote environmental literacy and stewardship related to the ocean, coasts, Great Lakes, weather and/or climate.
• Professional development for pre-service teachers, for in-service teachers or to enhance the capacity of professional development providers to improve participants' pedagogical content knowledge of Earth System Science. Professional development projects should also lead to an increased stewardship ethic.

All projects should include realistic and relevant inquiry-based learning experiences. Successful projects will not merely increase knowledge of scientific phenomena, but will also provide opportunities for the application of that knowledge to environmental issues relevant to the target audience. Projects should be designed to generate and sustain a network of participants that allows for rapid but sustainable program growth during and/or beyond the project period. This includes involving school district administrators in service-learning and/or in in-service teacher professional development to help enhance the adoption and sustainability of the projects.

Successful projects will:

• Increase participant awareness, understanding and appreciation of the interconnectedness of people and the environment, especially with reference to climate change.
• Assist participants in increasing their stewardship behaviors.
• Use problem-based learning methods.
• Involve collaborations and partnerships with other institutions, organizations and/or networks of institutions and organizations.
• Incorporate the highest quality scientific research, data and models related to ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, weather and climate sciences, and incorporate NOAA products wherever possible.
• Deliver cutting-edge scientific content and data directly to the target audiences.
• Involve school district administrations substantially.

This funding opportunity has two sizes of awards called "priorities," numbered without regard to importance for funding:

• Priority 1 awards are intended to provide innovative, catalytic start-up or proof-of-concept funding that will enable projects to reach a level of maturity that, if shown to be effective, will allow the applicant to compete for longer-term funding from other sources or future Environmental Literacy Grants or become self-sustaining. This priority includes planning activities, pilot studies and feasibility studies, or, in general, work that is on a path toward a major project but that needs to address critical issues or decisions before major projects can be formulated.
• Priority 2 awards are intended to support full-scale implementation of educational projects, where there has been a needs assessment and a pilot test or other demonstration of feasibility for the implementation of the idea. Partnerships among multiple organizations or networks of organizations are typically a component of full-scale implementation. These types of projects may expand an existing program into new regions or adapt it in order to broaden participation of new audiences.

Fit for public broadcasting: Public broadcasting stations are eligible to apply for this grant, but since the program's intent is to fund formal education programs for K-12 students, public broadcasting stations will need to work closely with a school or school district. With their expertise in creating educational programming and teacher training resources, specifically those with a multimedia focus, public broadcasting stations are well suited to apply for this opportunity. NOAA is specifically looking to fund programs that reach elementary-age students, as they are often underserved by STEM programming. Public broadcasting stations have experience reaching younger children and would be a valuable resource in designing environmental literacy programs for elementary schools.

Eligibility: Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, other nonprofits, K-12 public and independent schools and school systems, and state, local and Indian tribal governments.

NOAA is strongly committed to increasing the participation of Minority Serving Institutions, i.e., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian institutions, and institutions that work in underserved communities. Applications are encouraged that involve any of these types of institutions.

Anticipated funding: NOAA anticipates the availability of approximately $8,000,000 available for this program. Approximately five to 10 awards among both priorities will be made. For Priority 1, the total federal amount that may be requested from NOAA shall not exceed $500,000. The minimum federal amount that must be requested for all years is $200,000. For Priority 2, the total federal amount that may be requested shall not exceed $1,500,000 for all years. The minimum federal amount that must be requested is $500,001. Priority 1 applications must cover a project period of one to two years, and Priority 2 applications must cover a project period of three to five years. Start dates can be as early as July 1, 2011.

How to apply: Applicants must submit pre-proposals for review to prevent the expenditure of effort on full applications that are not likely to be successful. All applicants will receive a response to their pre-proposal indicating whether they are authorized to submit a full application. Only those who receive authorization from NOAA are eligible to submit a full application.

Pre-proposals and full applications must be submitted on Grants.gov.

Resources:
Program notice
Transcript of an informational teleconference held with NOAA program officers about this opportunity
Past awardees of NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants