This week, we're working on two robotics projects — one in a North Carolina middle-school, and the other in a South Carolina high school. In both, we’re currently helped along by foundations that will match our donations!
#GivingTuesday is November 27th (as an antidote to those post-Thanksgiving days of buying more stuff!!!), and we hope that readers who support quality public school education will help these teachers and students by sharing or supporting our featured projects.
The Inoculation Project is an ongoing, volunteer effort to crowdfund science and math projects for red-state public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
When nomandates took this up as a long-term project, it had no matching funds and looked to be an ambitious goal. But during the week, triple matching funds were added by the New Teacher Fund, so now it won’t be so hard to get this project finished!
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set so they may have the ability to build their own robot so they can expand their knowledge of coding
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: North Wilkes Middle School, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Total: $582.66 (3x matching funds from the New Teacher Fund)
Still Needed: $310.01 Completed! Thank you!
Plenty more projects for Giving Tuesday to be found at DonorsChoose.org!
Teacher’s Comments from Mr. Byers:
My Students: 6th. 7th, and 8th grade students who are enrolled in computer science discoveries/ computer skills. The majority of my students come from low income backgrounds in a rural area that has historically thrived on factory work. There has been a recent shift in our community from factory work to technology based jobs. My students are gaining 21 century skills through my classes by learning problem solving skills, and collaboration and teamwork by working with one another to reach a common goal.
My Project: My students are amazed at what they are able to accomplish with coding. During their time of experimenting with coding on the computer they have shared that they would like to experience more.
My students desire to start a robotics club using the MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set to write codes and to be able to complete in our local robotics competition.
Through this experience my students would obtain real life hands on experiences with coding that they could potentially use later in the career field. My students are very enthusiastic about this opportunity and the knowledge and skills they will be able to gain from this experience.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Looking for a new long-term project, I checked out the county in South Carolina that was hardest hit by Hurricane Florence. I picked this project in honor of my nephews who are visiting this weekend, two dyed-in-the-wool robotics boys. (People with unduly sharp memories may recall that I posted the older one’s first solder joint here in 2012. Now he’s taller than me.)
This project is receiving matching funds: The Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation cares about improving the quality of life for Georgetown County residents, with an emphasis on addressing the root causes of poverty, meeting basic human needs, promoting economic vitality, preserving the environment, and encouraging positive youth development.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students a place to store their tools for robotics.
Economic need: More than three-quarters of students from low‑income households
Location: Andrews High School, Andrews, South Carolina
Total: $404.02 (Matching funds from The Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation)
Still Needed: $404.02 Completed! Thank you!
Plenty more projects for Giving Tuesday to be found at DonorsChoose.org!
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Butler:
My Students: We are a small rural high school. We are a Title I school with 100% Free Reduced Lunch Program. Currently in South Carolina approximately 20% of high school students will earn an associate or baccalaureate degree. This is considerably less than the US average.
My students are committed to learning robotics and are excited to attend the regional event this spring.
They want to improve their standing from last year. They are encouraging other students to participate and look forward to working with mentors in engineering fields. In addition, the team visits other schools and events to promote robotics.
My Project: Our robotics team has endured the last two years with our tools being in tackle boxes and it is very unorganized. We need a more efficient way of transporting and storing tools for our FIRST robotics team members. A tool cabinet would be a welcomed addition to our crew as it will allow us better access to tools after school and during competition.
Our project is to build a working robot in seven weeks and then compete against other teams from across the nation.
We work with community support personnel to design, program and build. The team has managers for each category with juniors and seniors mentoring the freshmen and sophomores.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Last week, we finished another project that began as long-term. In You've Got to See It to Believe It!, Mrs. Miles’ fourth grade class in rural northeastern Tennessee will have two very cool hand-held flip microscopes they can use to study their local plants ans animals. She writes: Your generosity in funding this project will be reflected in the eyes of my students when they learn tomorrow at school that this project has been funded! Thanks so much for supporting our science learning by providing the means to purchase these microscopes for our classroom. They will be so excited to use them and see the world in a new way. Who knows? These tools may be just the thing that motivates them to pursue a career in science.
Also, two weeks ago, we completed a gardening project for a Texas kindergarten, Learning About Healthy Food and How Plants Grow Through Science! At the time, Mrs. Morris hadn’t received notice that her project was funded, and I promised you her note when she posted. Here it is: Thank you so very much for your support and generosity towards my class!!! Students can learn so much through having first hand experiences, being able to explore and establish real life connection to what we are learning. Growing healthy food and knowing how to grow food for your family are very important!! I know the students are going to be so excited to see our Kindergarten-garden!!! They will learn so much from having this experience.
Our Dollars at Work
In October, we helped Mrs. Chenevert supply her Texas preschool class with a big collection of puzzles. The project was Puzzle Power. (More photos at the link.)
(Ed. note: Mrs. C. has taken the trouble to join Daily Kos and help promote this series and other teachers’ projects. She tells us that she has a new math project for this class HERE. Check it out!)
It is hard to put into words how much I appreciate the puzzles that were so generously donated to my Pre-K classroom. A preschool classroom needs puzzles! We were super excited to see all the boxes full of puzzles.
The students are happy and appreciative of the new toys in our classroom. As they work on the puzzles, the students gain a sense of confidence and accomplishment. You can see the students' pride when they finish a puzzle. Because of your generosity, we have enough puzzles to keep us busy and learning for a very long time. Thank you for this wonderful gift that makes learning fun in our Pre-K classroom.
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in traditionally red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, a crowdfunding charity founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau.
Every Sunday, we focus on helping to fund two science or math projects in red states, preferably in neighborhood public schools where the overwhelming majority of students come from low-income households. We welcome everyone who supports public school education — no money is required!
Finally, here’s our list of successfully funded projects — our series total is 703! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.