Jennifer Bayley, Tina Ecker and Debbie Leyba-Angel

The team’s innovative teaching idea, “Fossils & Optics Rock!,” focuses on increasing comprehension of geology and optics, two critical knowledge areas that students have identified as difficult to understand. Though Bayley and her team develop experiments with common objects and internet resources, nothing can replace the value of holding a fossil in one’s own hands or looking through a digital microscope at layers of sedimentary rock with one’s own eyes. With the Voya grant, the team plans to purchase materials for students to conduct experiments using fossils, rock samples, waves and light. Through concrete experiences with rocks, fossils, microscopes and accessible geologic timelines, Bayley and her team aim to increase student understanding of critical science concepts.