Kentucky Geographic Alliance Receives $50,000 Grant

September 30, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - The Kentucky Geographic Alliance (KGA) has been awarded its fourth $50,000 grant from the National Geographic Society.

The grant titled “Mapping Kentucky Through the KGA” will provide a variety of professional development opportunities and materials for Kentucky teachers. For part of the grant the KGA will offer eight $500 teacher grants to implement professional development in their classrooms.

In June 2009, the KGA will collaborate with the Illinois Geographic Alliance and the Indiana Geographic Alliance to host a summer workshop for teachers to explore sites of Lincoln iconography. The participants will work to develop an interactive website with photos and information about monuments and memorials to Lincoln in these three states.

Since moving to Western Kentucky University four years ago, the KGA has hosted teacher summer institutes, parent/child GPS GeoFests, pre-service teacher workshops, and supported numerous teacher presentations at workshops or conferences.

In addition, the KGA has provided maps and other materials to teachers across the state. The KGA is working to develop an online atlas project of Kentucky maps, an elementary atlas of Kentucky maps, and an interactive map of Kentucky assessment data.

The KGA is coordinated by Kay Gandy in WKU’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Scott Dobler in the Department of Geography and Geology. For information about how you can get involved with the KGA, email kga@wku.edu.
               
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For information, contact Kay Gandy at (270) 745-2991.