Courtesy of Patricia Betteken

Michael Betteken of the Virginia Tech Microbiology Club works with Riverlawn Elementary School third-grader Savanna Willis on a science experiment.

In the next two years, Radford University will spend about $120,000 from the National Science Foundation to create math lessons and applications that they hope will help teachers.

The NSF gave two of Radford's math instructors -- Laura Spielman and Jean Mistele -- $119,667 to further develop a class called Math for Social Analysis. College students take the math education course before they begin student-teaching.

The idea of the class is to find new ways to teach math so that teachers and their young students will be interested, Spielman said. The tools created will be shared with other colleges and K-12 schools through a Web site.

"We're trying to use applications that will have an impact," said Spielman, an associate professor. "So many kids don't find math interesting, so we're hoping we can bring a more diverse student population to math.

"We're trying to draw connections between the math that students learn in the classroom and the lives and community needs outside of the classroom," she said.

She said previous classes have studied issues such as the presidential elections, strip mining and rain forest climate using math.

The grant money also will be used to study how the college students perform in the class.

Riverlawn students learn from Virginia Tech club

The Virginia Tech Microbiology Club visited third-graders at Riverlawn Elementary School on Dec. 5 for a three-hour science lesson.

The college students taught the children about the parts of a microscope, performed multiple experiments and showed them the bacteria that can accumulate on their hands.

The Tech students also talked about good hand-washing techniques and had the students clean their hands.

"They were just general health lessons," said Riverlawn teacher Patricia Betteken. "The students already had done a health lesson, and this was extension of that."

Her son works with the microbiology club. This was the first time the group has visited Riverlawn.

Betteken said the visit was a great way to "see science in action."

Kipps eyeing money for veggie, fruit program

Kipps Elementary School staff should find out in February whether they will get $15,000 from Hidden Valley Ranch to teach children about nutrition, fresh produce and healthy snacks.

The school applied for a grant from the "Love Your Veggies" school grant program in November.

School personnel will be expected to take on the Kipps Kanagaroos Push for Veggies project, which include giving students fresh fruit and vegetables during snack times.

Anna L. Mallory covers events and issues affecting Montgomery County schools and beyond. If you have information you'd like featured, e-mail anna.mallory@roanoke.com. You also can visit Chalk Dust, the New River Valley's education news source, at blogs.roanoke.com/chalkdust.