Bosch Community Fund supports STEM in Charleston County School District classrooms

April 26, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic created multiple challenges for educators, including how to provide hands-on, interactive lessons and opportunities in the classroom. Charleston County School District’s (CCSD) new Science Instructional Specialist Deborah Batzer recognized that challenge. When the district applied for a grant from the Bosch Community Fund, she requested funds to acquire Gizmos for every CCSD elementary school.

For the past eight years, Bosch Community Fund has awarded CCSD a grant for project-based inquiry projects. This school year, CCSD received nearly $20,000 to purchase Gizmos, the interactive math and science simulation program for third through fifth graders (the district had already purchased Gizmos to supplement middle and high school classrooms).

Gizmos are available for every teacher in the district to supplement their lessons and instruction in math and science. They give students something to graph, measure, and compare, even predict and prove. Students can discover concepts, analyze data and go deeper with in-depth activities creating moments to explore, learn, and apply new ideas.