About the Grants For Teachers Program

About the Grants for Teachers program

Since 2013, The Friends of Arlington's David M. Brown Planetarium has been supporting APS teachers as part of our mission to support STEM education. The Friends' Grants For Teachers program provides funds for STEM teachers to attend classes, major educational conferences, and online learning.

The Grants for Teachers program is administered jointly by the Friends and APS, and has benefited dozens of our teachers and - most importantly - their students. In 2023 the Friends will provide teacher grants for Summer and Fall Semesters.

Teachers, to apply, please contact Chris Reed in the APS science office directly.

Testimonials from Grants for Teachers

I attended several sessions at the NSTA conference in a variety of areas. I tried to pick sessions based on what areas I teach in fourth grade. Some of the sessions I attended related to Project-Based Learning, including a seaplane challenge, stream ecosystems with food chains and food webs, hands-on energy activities, and BreakOut. I plan to incorporate what I learned about project-based learning and the specific activities I saw during the hands-on energy sessions in my classroom. I believe my students will be very engaged by these.

Jennifer Witt, Tuckahoe Elementary

This was a three day conference where there were many sessions to choose from each day. Many of the sessions I attended were STEM based. In many of the sessions I learned how to STEMify lessons through engineering designs and inquiry. The STEM-In-a-Bag was a great workshop with 20 easy to make STEM challenge ideas that each fit into a paper bag! The Infusing Technology into your Science Instruction provided an introduction to easily merge technology into your already busy science classrooms! The sessions were hands-on, engaging and age-appropriate for my K-5 science lab. I have already tried a few activities in my K/1 classes. Attending this workshop makes my planning much easier now!

Kristin Bouton, Barcroft Elementary

About Grants for Teachers funding

The Friends provide grant funding annually to support STEM teaching for APS students. Funding is derived from public-event ticket sales, a portion of memberships, and earmarked donations. Every donation makes a difference!

Donate here