Grants, awards & freebies

Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., has received a three-year, $375,000 award from the National Science Foundation to run a summer program that gives middle school teachers the opportunity to participate in biomedical engineering research and create new classroom units for their students.

Establish, improve a running program: ING Run For Something Better, in partnership with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, is providing a minimum of 50 grants up to $2,500 to each school planning to establish a school-based running program or expand an existing one.

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Awards Program combines science and technology with community problem-solving. Students work in teams with the help of an adult coach to identify an issue they care about and — using science and technology, work with experts and research — to put their ideas to the test and develop an innovative solution.

Scholastic/Lexus Environmental Challenge: The Scholastic/Lexus Environmental Challenge program is designed to educate and empower students to take action to improve the environment, encouraging middle and high school students across the United States to develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities.

Freedoms Foundation Awards: The Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education, presented by the Freedoms Foundation, honor outstanding educators who excite a commitment in their students to the free enterprise system and unleash the entrepreneurial skills of their students at the elementary, junior high school, high school or college level.

Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange Program: The Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange Program provides opportunities for teachers to participate in direct exchanges of positions with colleagues from other countries for a semester or academic year.

Free environmental curriculum available: Discovery Education and Dawn launch the Junior Wildlife Champions curriculum. The free curriculum offers lesson plans and tools to help educators explore the issues surrounding oil spills and engage students to get involved in wildlife education in their own ways.

Summer seminar: The Cullman Center Institute for Teachers offers three week-long summer seminars with brilliant writers and academics at the New York Public Library's landmark building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.