Staff from Katherine Mecham Barney Elementary and Crismon High School in the Queen Creek Unified School District have received grants from SRP.

The SRP Learning Grant allows schools, teachers and students to develop projects and programs geared toward state-mandated competencies, a district press release stated. The funds can be used to support teaching strategies that will improve student performance in math and science.

At KMBE, Administrative Assistant Shannon Lines and Counselor Tiffany Chamberlain received an SRP Learning Grant which they used to purchase Ozobots for their students. Ozobots are small, programmable robots that are used to introduce younger students to the fundamentals of coding. Students are able to interact directly with these robots and program them with colors to follow sequences.

Lines explained how coding requires a lot of problem-solving, patience and teamwork with some coding exercises taking multiple tries to solve.

“Seeing the look on the faces as they turn from frustration to ‘Wow, I did it’ is pretty amazing,” Lines stated in the release.

At CHS, Kaesha Neil, an honors science instructor, used the SRP Learning Grant to purchase Vernier sensor equipment for AP biology students to collect quantitative data on oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethanol production during the making of and breakdown of food in plants, yeast and animals.

By using these sensors, students will be able to monitor the changes in organisms as they photosynthesize.

“The quantitative data will also give students an opportunity to graph, analyze and present their data — important skills in science.” Neil stated in the release.

Equipment such as the sensors help students grasp more complex concepts.

“Receiving the financial support for this equipment means our community values the education our students are receiving,” the release stated.