Roslyn High School psychology and biology students literally will learn the structures of the human eye and brain in a hands-on manner at they manipulate three-dimensional models being purchased with a grant from the Roslyn Hilltop Education Foundation. These scientific models are among seven proposals the Foundation recently approved in its 5th-round of grant awards.

Students at Roslyn High School, Heights School and Roslyn Middle School will benefit from these seven projects that cost up to $1,500 each, totaling about $9,400. "A number of enriching programs now are in place in all of Roslyn's school buildings because of our group's efforts," said Foundation President Howard Schechter. "We are pleased that we are able to provide a funding source of exciting educational experiences."

Now starting its fifth year, the Roslyn Hilltop Educational Foundation is a private, not-for-profit organization that supports innovative programs in the Roslyn schools that fall outside the realm of the annual budget. To date, the group has funded a wide range of projects in technology, the arts and sciences.

At Heights School, where reading readiness is an integral part of the curriculum, youngsters soon will enjoy seeing their teachers and classmates don special "Show-A-Tale" aprons that are wearable storyboards. These child and adult-sized sets are based on specific books, and feature major characters and key elements from the story. Children will be able to handle these props for a true hands-on learning experience.

"Storytelling can provide for a child an exposure to rich language and a development of imagination that can take them many places," the grant proposal read.

Two of the three grants for Roslyn Middle School involve multimedia and interdisciplinary projects for English classes. One grant will fund a classroom computer station that will allow students to use a variety of multimedia programs to create storybooks, scripts and literary guides. A second grant will guide students to produce interdisciplinary projects, such as a cyber Renaissance fair, or a computerized page discussing the shift in views about the shape of the earth. Such creations would be interdisciplinary, the grant proposal noted, because they would begin with students' notes for writing assignments in social studies or science in other academic areas.

"Acid Rain, In My Back Yard?" is the title of the third grant the Foundation awarded for the Middle School. In this project, students will survey Roslyn to determine whether acid rain poses a problem locally. With science teachers' help, they will collect and analyze rain water samples from predetermined sites. A computer software program will aid data analysis, and students will write environmental surveys based on this information. Later, students will share their findings on the World Wide Web.

With Foundation funding, Roslyn High School musical performances will boom forth with a fuller, new sound, thanks to the addition of a full-sized professional drum set. The grant proposal noted that the drum set will benefit students who use it, as well as the community at large, whose members hear school concerts and other musical presentations throughout the year.

A multimedia hardware purchase for the High School's Macintosh computer lab will enhance that facility's use with the addition of zip drives, a new color printer and a digital camera. These items will benefit students enrolled in computer graphics and multimedia arts classes. This purchase recognizes "the integration of technology in the more traditional art classes," the proposal read.

Finally, the grant awarded for a model of the human brain and eye will allow teachers to demonstrate these complicated structures either in front of a class or for small groups of students for closer study. Currently, psychology and biology students are learning about these organs with words and two-dimensional diagrams.

The Roslyn Hilltop Education Foundation seeks ongoing support from residents and area businesses in order to continue its long-term funding process. For more information about the group, contact the Roslyn Hilltop Educational Foundation at P.O. Box 95, Roslyn New York 11576.