BrightIdeas

Featured Grants

The Science of Sound
Science of Sound
Kimberly Scott, Music Educator at Trent Park Elementary School, won a 2010 Bright Ideas grant through North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation for her project, “The Science of Sound.” The grant allowed 2nd and 5th graders to work to construct and design REAL, WORKING, cardboard guitars. The guitar making process was long, but worthwhile. The students began the project by first studying sound and sound production in Science class. The next step was creating the guitar. This was a HUGE task!! It turned out to be harder than expected, so we enlisted the help of our fabulous fifth graders. Between the 2nd and 5th graders, we were able to glue, tape and drill our guitars together to make them working masterpieces. Students painted, colored with crayons, and used stickers to bring their guitars to life.
Scienr of Sound
Some guitars had an underwater theme while others traveled to Outer space. Sponge Bob Squarepants made an appearance on MANY of the guitars.

Many important lessons were learned during this project including the importance of teamwork and that it’s OK to ask for help! Several volunteers from the school and community helped. A parent came in to tune the guitars. 30 guitars were tuned! The fun part is learning to play the guitars.



Triangle Day School Students "Bring Science to Life"
Science
Dr. Erin Nelson, a K-5 teacher at Triangle Day School in Durham, won a Bright Ideas grant through Piedmont EMC for her project, "Bring Science to Life." The grant provided money to purchase a variety of live animals for interactive science labs for each grade level. For instance, kindergarteners kept journals of the traits they learned about in animals such as goldfish, aquatic snails, earthworms, mealworms, praying mantis, lady beetles, mice and gerbils. First graders created terrariums for millipedes, earthworms and pill bugs. Second-grade students studied insect life cycles and worked in groups of 2 or 3 to follow the complete life cycle of mealworms and tobacco hornworms, as well as the
Girl with Bug
incomplete life cycles of the praying mantis and milkweed bugs. Third and fourth graders studied plants, animal behavior and adaptations, while fifth graders built eco-columns and connected a terrarium to an aquarium, teaching them about the inner-connectivity of land and sea. Although each grade level used different materials and required unique lesson plans, Dr. Nelson was able to fully engage her students through discovery-based learning, thanks to her Bright Ideas grant funding.



Reading, Writing and Blogging
iPod
Rachel Smith, a teacher at Cerro Gordo Elementary, won a Bright Ideas grant through Brunswick EMC for her project, "Reading, Writing and Blogging." The grant funding purchased five iPod nanos that were used nearly every day to bring some excitement into her classroom and help improve reading fluency and comprehension for her third and fourth grade students.

Students selected poems and short stories to record on the iPods. They were then able to listen to themselves reading. They concentrated, took the time to decode more difficult words and read with expression because they knew their classmates would hear the story later. Many students voluntarily read the same story repeatedly, perfecting their recording.

Smith notes, "My students loved the iPods, but I think it was also valuable for them to understand that we received them from a local business that was interested in their education. The kids were just fascinated that a company was using their money to help our class. Several of the students wanted to know if we had to 'pay back' Brunswick EMC. I explained that although we didn't return any money to the business, we repaid the investment by doing our best in school."
iPod
iPod