MEMPHIS, TENN. — ServiceMaster has announced an agreement with the National Science Teachers Association to sponsor its Science Matters Web site and several of its teacher awards.

NSTA recently launched Science Matters, a major public awareness initiative designed to rekindle a national sense of urgency and action among schools and families about the importance of science education and science literacy. The Science Matters Web site, accessible at www.nsta.org/sciencematters/, provides teachers and parents with helpful reports and studies about the current state of science education in the United States, information about how to work together to foster better learning experiences in K-12 science and links to valuable Web sites that offer simple science experiments and activities to do in the classroom or at home.

In addition to supporting the Web site, ServiceMaster will sponsor three annual NSTA awards: the Distinguished Informal Science Education Award, the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Distinguished Service to Science Education Award. These awards honor K-12 teachers, professors, principals, and others who have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of science education and science teaching.

Science Matters is a component of the John Glenn Center for Science Education campaign, a five-year $43 million national effort to make excellence in science teaching and learning a reality for all U.S. students. This effort, one of the most significant ever undertaken by NSTA, will fund a body of forward-thinking programs and a state-of-the-art facility designed to promote leadership, learning, and advocacy in science education. For more information on the John Glenn Center for Science Education, visit www.nsta.org/cse.