Two professors in Drake’s School of Education recently received grant awards totaling more than $60,000.
The Spencer Foundation awarded nearly $40,000 to Tonia Land, assistant professor of teaching and learning, for her project, “Teachers’ Problem Posing: Responses to Children’s Mathematical Thinking.” Land’s investigation will attempt to examine the practices of teachers who have participated in a professional development program focused on children’s mathematical thinking. She will generate a developmental trajectory for the ways in which teachers respond to students through problem posing.
Established in 1962, the Spencer Foundation investigates and supports ways in which education can be improved around the world. Their research grants program funds the efforts of educators examining and researching various aspects of educational improvement.
Anne Murr, coordinator of the Adult Literacy Center at Drake, received a $22,000 grant from United Way of Central Iowa. The grant will be used to further support the Adult Literacy Center and its mission.
The Adult Literacy Center improves the quality of local adults’ lives by helping them learn to read, write, and comprehend. The center has been part of Drake’s School of Education since 1976, and serves individuals from a cross-section of ethnic and lower income backgrounds. Volunteers from Drake and the greater Des Moines community who are dedicated to literacy and community outreach staff the center. The center helps about 100 students each year. United Way’s contributions have continually helped fund the center’s operations.
