Launch of request for proposals 2/2009

Overview

With funding provided by a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) CPATH II award, Oberlin College (through the Oberlin Modeling Initiative, OMnI) is able to offer curriculum development grants to faculty, par- ticularly in the natural, social and mathematical sciences, looking to promote computational thinking in their introductory courses. All participants are expected to attend the OMnI/Shodor Workshop to be held on campus during the week of June 6, 2010. Level I participants are also expected to develop new course materials and attend the August 26-27 OMnI Retreat, as described below.

Level I grants

Level I grants of $2,000 (pre-tax) will be awarded to approximately 14 applicants. OMnI participants will attend the OMnI/Shodor Workshop on the Oberlin campus June 6 - 11, 2010, for which they will receive a $400 stipend. To receive the remaining $1,600, Level I participants are expected to develop a a teaching module of one or more weeks in length for an introductory course, incorporating the ideas of computation and modeling, and introduce that module during the 2010-2011 academic year. Modules developed through the CPATH grant are expected to become part of the regular curriculum, taught in courses offered at least three times in the next five years Level I participants are also expected to attend OMnI Retreat in August.

NSF expects OMnI to distribute course materials via our Website, therefore all curricular materials developed on this project must be submitted in a form that allows them to be shared. Each Level I participant will be teamed with a graduate student from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Complex Systems, with whom they will collaborate on developing and presenting the course materials and who will assist in preparing the materials for distribution. OMnI curricular materials must be submitted for distribution immediately following the semester in which they are first presented.

NSF requires assessment activities as part of their CPATH projects. Level I participants are expected to cooperate with the assessment process as it pertains to their courses.

Level II grants

Level II grants of $400 are offered for faculty interested in participating in the summer 2010 workshop and the possibility of developing course materials in future years. Level II participants will be able to apply in year 2 or 3 of the OMnI program for the remaining $1,600 of the Level I stipend.

Eligibility

All continuing members of the teaching faculty of Oberlin College are eligible to apply. Applicants for Level I grants must be teaching during the 2010-2011 academic year. Individuals who received other internal grants in previous competitions are eligible to apply, providing reports on all previous projects have been submitted to Sponsored Programs.

OMnI/Shodor Workshop, June 6 - 11, 2010

OMnI will hold a workshop in computation and modeling presented by the Shodor Educational Foundation (www.shodor.org), a national resource for computational science education. This workshop will be designed espe- cially for newcomers to computational and modeling, to help OMnI participants create their modules.

OMnI Retreat, August 26 - 27, 2010

Just prior to the fall semester OMnI will hold a 2-day session during which Level I participants and University of Michigan graduate students will have the opportunity to share their experiences and materials.

Application Procedure

Please fill out and submit the form at http://tinyURL.com/omnigrant-1 . Applications are due March 22, 2010. For further information contact Richard Salter at rms@cs.oberlin.edu