The Cargill Foundation recently awarded The Raptor Center a $315,000 grant to expand STEM education in the Twin Cities using Raptor Lab, an online learning platform that puts raptors at the center of scientific education and exploration.

Thanks to this generous funding, and in partnership with University of Minnesota Extension, The Raptor Center will reach new teachers and classrooms throughout Minneapolis and the Northwest suburbs. A primary focus of the initiative is to support teachers in underserved communities, to increase accessibility to STEM curriculum, and to highlight women in the scientific field.

This two-and-a-half-year effort started this spring and will go through the summer of 2022. During that time, teacher cohorts will be created as we guide them through implementing the Raptor Lab platform into their curriculum. Technology help, resources, and strategies will assist these teachers as they bring this innovative, hands-on, and experiential learning tool to their classrooms. This grant will also fund the University’s Ecology Science Fair, where students present environment-based science projects to the public, for the next two years.

To explore Raptor Lab for yourself, visit raptorlab.umn.edu.