From conducting research to creating multimedia projects, grants funded by the Junior League of Dallas—of which many neighbors belong— will help many Preston Hollow schools experiment with how they teach.
At Preston Hollow Elementary School, a $1,231.90 grant will go toward the Tower Garden Challenge, where students will get their hands dirty as they research plants and aeroponic gardening to learn about the scientific method.
Five miles north, students at Nathan Adams Elementary received a $1,992.99 grant to create educational videos that help students learn letters and numbers. The videos also are designed to help students retell stories.
Benjamin Franklin Middle School students will perform excerpts of a Miguel de Cervantes novel at the Cervantes Literacy Walk, which will be built in the courtyard garden. Using an International Baccalaureate approach, Spanish, science and library are fused into one project. The school received $1,996.98 to make the literacy walk a reality.
Students at Hillcrest received a $2,000 grant to work with Dr. Raymond MacDonald, of UT Southwestern, to research pancreatic development. The program says that students will “obtain crystals for X-ray crystallographic analysis of a novel heterotrimeric transcription factor complex, PTF1, which is a key regulator of embryonic pancreatic development.” If you’re not sure exactly what that means, don’t worry, because we’re not either, but it sounds pretty impressive.
