Faculty Grants Seeking Donors

An intense, cardiovascular sport that has swept the campuses of elite colleges across the country over the last two decades. Help us expose our students to Ultimate Frisbee by covering the costs of 26 practice disks.

All CSS-MSE fitness courses are taught with a small student:instructor ratio of 16:1.  Over their career with us, students gain exposure to a wide variety of fitness activities so that our they may approach their own health and well being through sustainable, lifestyle choices.   To learn more about our fitness program, visit our fitness curriculum page.

We already possess a healthy library of science fiction films for that elective class, although more are needed. I would like to offer an elective in classic movies in alternate semesters. Current students have responded well to such films as "The Day the Earth Stood Still", as well as old episodes of "Twilight Zone". So I think that they will appreciate such classics as "Citizen Kane", "The Third Man", "Casablanca", and others. Students often respond better to these sorts of films than to special-effect laden contemporary movies.

Cover the equipment costs of this fun, backyard favorite! Our students have an opportunity to learn hand-eye coordination and improve cardiovascular fitness with this lifetime sport.

All CSS-MSE fitness courses are taught with a small student:instructor ratio of 16:1.  Over their career with us, students gain exposure to a wide variety of fitness activities so that our they may approach their own health and well being through sustainable, lifestyle choices.   To learn more about our fitness program, visit our fitness curriculum page.

A schoolyard classic, street hockey is one of our students' favorite fitness classes!

All CSS-MSE fitness courses are taught with a small student:instructor ratio of 16:1.  Over their career with us, students gain exposure to a wide variety of fitness activities so that our they may approach their own health and well being through sustainable, lifestyle choices.   To learn more about our fitness program, visit our fitness curriculum page.

As Prof. Hill plans to put up a production next semester, costume costs must come into play! This grant will help us to begin to build our very own CSS Costume collection to help our theatre events to look their best!

This grant would allow us to purchase equipment to enable an inquiry-based introduction to DC electricity in our 6th grade engineering course.

The Capacitor Aided System for Teaching and Learning Electricity (CASTLE) is a hands-on electricity curriculum that leads students from initial naive ideas to an increasingly expert understanding of electrical phenomena. A sequence of self-guided experiments uses large capacitors and transient bulb lighting to help students confront their misconceptions, grasp the physics of current propulsion and build intuitive explanatory models.

The core experiments stimulate students to model mobile charge as a compressible fluid and electric potential as "pressure" in the fluid. They learn that a pressure difference is what makes charge move through a resistor. The advanced experiments reveal two kinds of charge and distant action, which suggests modeling fields as pressure raising/lowering "halos" around ± charges. Connections between the electron, the atom and mobile charge in circuits are also explored.

CASTLE instruction gives priority to development of qualitative reasoning skills. No prior knowledge of electricity is required, making the curriculum accessible to students at all levels.

The CASTLE approach originated in the research of Professor Melvin S. Steinberg of Smith College. The complete curriculum was developed by a team of college and high school physics teachers under a National Science Foundation grant. Extensive testing has shown superior conceptual and confidence gains. In 1994, CASTLE was certified a proven effective program by the U.S. Department of Education's Program Effectiveness Panel.

  This spring, Prof. Hill is planning to launch a theatrical production (stay tuned for details!) and our stage is frequently used for CAP performances and assemblies. As you've likely observed, our auditorium is an interesting space, but lacks some important elements for bringing a full production to life, such as stage lighting.  This funding will help us to begin to build a basic lighting system, to help our students on stage to shine.  Donations in any capacity are welcome for this, and we will continue to build as we grow!