LIMA — Lima North Middle School students in Amanda Markley’s fifth- and sixth-grade enrichment class will soon literally know everything there is to know about snakes, inside and out.
Markley was surprised by representatives from CenturyLink with a $5,000 grant. The grant, made available through CenturyLink’s Clarke M. Williams Foundation Teachers and Technology program, will be used by the school for studying snakes and other reptiles. The prize at the end, the students will dissect snakes at the end of their studies.
“The students will first have a research project on snakes and other reptiles,” Markley said. “We will look around other parts of the world and learn about the other species of snakes.”
Markley said the program is beneficial educationally because fifth- and sixth-graders find it interesting.
“They get hands-on and real-world experience,” Markley said. “If they ever travel the world, they will know what to look for and what snakes are poisonous.”
After learning about the snakes, technology will be used with the students using iPads to do a virtual snake dissection before getting to the real thing. CenturyLink Government Affairs Director Josh Motzer said using technology is one of the things the foundation looks for when determining the grant winners.
“All of the awards have been very unique,” Motzer said. “This is exactly why the foundation does what it does. This is the fun part of my job. Giving out money and seeing what our schools are doing.”
More than 1,000 applications for the grant were filled out nationally, with only 314 being chosen. Markley’s project received the maximum $5,000.
Markley’s classes have dissected other animals in the past, such as starfish and sharks. She knows the negative stigma and fear of snakes that exists. However, she said students and parents do not need to worry.
“These snakes are dead already when we get them,” she said.
“The winning teachers’ grant applications were inspirational,” said CenturyLink Ohio vice president of Operations Mike Brill. “They demonstrate creative teaching techniques that can be used to assist students in fully understanding the subject matter. We are pleased to help these passionate educators expose their students to science, technology, engineering and math concepts in their daily school lives.”
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