Are you concerned that science is under attack by the modern conservative movement? Does it drive you nuts that many kids (especially in conservative areas) aren't being taught the importance of science education?
Most importantly, do you wish there were something tangible you could do about it?
Please consider following this group: The Inoculation Project
(click the "follow" link on that page)
This group is the DK4 version of the DK3 diary series of the same name. Each week we target a math/science project in a red state classroom, and we attempt to get that project funded. With very small dollar donations we provide the most at-risk kids with exposure to the important math and science concepts they need to be fully engaged in their world. We also get to feel really awesome! Everybody wins.
We publish every Friday afternoon, usually at 3:00pm Eastern.
By way of introduction, I've reposted our Annual Report for last year below. In it, you can see the tremendous impact we've managed to have with small donations ($5, $10, $25, etc.). It's pretty awesome! Check us out!
The Ass-Kickingest Annual Report You'll Ever Read on DKos
There's a huge, little secret in education, and that is that teachers in low-income school districts buy their own supplies. You come into a classroom and if you're lucky all you have are your textbooks. - Annemarie Wikstrom, Teacher (Lafayette, LA)
NPR, December 4, 2007
I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say. Evolution is hooey. - Don McLeroy, Texas State Board of Education
Washington Monthly, January/February 2010
A year ago, I was pissed off. Really pissed off.
Yeah, sure part of it might have been the fact that it was my 41st birthday, and my hair was already gray, and I was unemployed, and far away from all my friends. But, it was more than that.
As I put it then, I was roiling over the "brain-meltingly stupid anti-science, anti-education, anti-competence, and anti-reality movement" animating contemporary conservative politics. I wanted to jump out of my skin, I was so desperate to do something about it. Something brilliant. Something cunning. Something that could fly under the radar, while striking right at their very heart.
And then it hit me: Knowledge isn't just power; it's inoculation against ignorance. If they weren't willing to educate their kids, I would step in and do it myself.
Thus was born The Inoculation Project.
And for the next year, a small but growing group of Kossacks gathered every Friday afternoon to rescue math and science projects in red state classrooms. We laughed, we got mad, we dug deep, and in the end, we rescued 55 projects for over 4,000 students through the DonorsChoose.org website. That's 4,000+ students who would not otherwise have had access to microscopes, or rock samples, or lab supplies... 4000+ opportunities to light the spark.
Consider this our Annual Report.
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Numbers
Let's talk raw numbers first. (You can follow along here [Google Docs spreadsheet link].)
Total Dollars Raised: $5,384.26
Classroom Projects Rescued: 55
Total Affected Students: 4,349*
Let that sink in for a minute. $5,384.26 is not a whole hell of a lot of money. But for what amounts to (literally) pocket change on Wall Street or K Street, we enabled 55 classrooms to go forward with their math and science projects. That's an average of less than $100 per project. But that's not even the amazing number.
We bought a priceless moment of contact, an opportunity to light the fire of discovery, for an average of $1.24 per student. I don't know about you, but I'll take that bargain any day.
*Note: The actual impact is even much greater than this number. Most projects provided durable goods that will continue to be used by future students for years to come. The actual impact could be many times this number.
OK, let's look at some pretty graphs.
As you can see, the projects we rescued almost all come from schools where poverty is a factor, and of those, the overwhelming majority are considered "high poverty" schools. These are students that are doubly at risk. Not only are they struggling against a culture that doesn't always prize education, they are doing so in situations where resources are scarce, and where teachers (often low income earners, themselves) have to provide what little they have out of their own pockets.
We've done a pretty good job spreading the bounty around to various age groups. You never know when a kid is going to catch the knowledge bug. Some get it when they're very young; some don't have that lightbulb moment until they're a little older. We're covering our bases.
As mentioned above, the majority of the projects rescued provided the classrooms with durable goods, like microscopes and models, which will reach not only the current crop of kids, but the next several years worth of kids to come through that classroom.
But those are just project percentages. Let's talk about those actual student numbers.
As before, the overwhelming majority of the individual students we've reached have come from high poverty areas.
We could probably be hitting the Pre-K - 2 grades a little more, but then again, grades 3 - 5 are when you really start getting some differentiation between areas of study like "science" and "math" versus other areas of study, so maybe that's not such an unexpected number.
Ah, here we go. This is probably my favorite. This is the one that shows the real impact of this effort. Those 3,892 students represent replicable numbers. That means next year, we pick up another 3,892 students. And the year after that, another 3,892 students. And the year after that, and probably the year after that, as well. And for chump change! This is the one that blows me away.
If you're interested, here's the breakdown by dollars raised. You can click through to see the full-size version of these:
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Meet the Students & Teachers
So, you've seen some numbers and pretty graphs, but that's all pretty abstract, right? We're going turn this up to "11" now and give you the good stuff: actual kids and teachers. (Clickity click the pics & links for more pics and stuff.)
One of the really stellar things about
DonorsChoose.org is that the classrooms you choose to help always reciprocate with thank-you letters from teachers, pictures of the students using the supplies you purchased, and in some cases, even hand-written notes from the students!
Here's one of my favorite notes from the teachers:
"It is because of all of your generous donations and love of learning that my dream for my students will come true. I didn't become interested in science until high school. I had a great teacher who challenged me. She also had the best hands-on materials I have ever seen! Being able to manipulate objects in the classroom was something that most of my science classes were missing. It is because of her that I love teaching my young students about science. These materials will allow me to have the best science learning center I have ever had! I can't wait to see my students using each manipulative,playing the science games, and asking questions to further their knowledge. Who knows, I might have the next great inventor in my classroom!" (Creepy Crawly Critters)
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Help A Fishy Cause We bought these kids aquarium supplies so they can learn about fish habitats.
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Yes, that's the good stuff, right there! It's awfully rewarding to read a letter like that.
How 'bout another one:
"Thank you so much for your generous contribution, not only to my classroom, but to support education. My class (and myself!) is so excited about our new materials.
"At an low-income, Title I elementary school, paper is ALWAYS at a shortage. I always find myself running out paper towards the end of the Trimester, and I have to go and buy paper out of my own pocket just to make homework copies for my students. Having an extra box of paper is going to be a life (and money) saver as we continue on into our third trimester.
"Additionally, we have a color printer in our room- but we had no ink! Due to your donation, we can now make amazing and beautiful color print outs of our illustrations. In addition, having ink in our color printer will allow us to print out pictures, which is especially helpful with the science fair coming up!
"Moreover, we cannot be more grateful for our new computer. It is absolutely stunning. We cannot wait to start publishing our own books using the software on it and making video presentations!
"Again, I can never express my gratitude to you for the new learning tools that you have given my students. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." (We Are Mac-ing!)
Gah! Paper! They actually had to ask for donations to buy a box of paper! Even though I know that's the reality that faces many school districts, that kind of stuff still always seems a little shocking to me. But that reminds of another one that just made me flat out furious. These kids didn't even have pencils:
"I am so excited about the materials you have funded for me!!! We have just learned at our school that we will be piloting a new program next year that will require many hands-on projects. The glue, pencils, and colored pencils provided with this grant will go a long way in the development of new math skills using hands on creative projects to learn math. Thank you so much for donating to the students in my class. Your support of my students' education is greatly appreciated." (Write and Stick Learning)
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Caught By A Kiss We bought these these high schoolers crime scene investigation kits so they could learn about forensic science techniques.
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I got a little ranty about that one, and some of you may recall, that one made the Rec List. Nothing like a little righteous fury! I just can't understand why we're letting our kids go to schools where they don't even have pencils. It doesn't really get much more basic than that, you know?
OK, one more:
"First, a heart felt thank you for your donations. Secondly, you truly will be making a difference in the lives of my students.By making this donation you will help our students see that what they are learning will impact their lives directly both in the classroom and the world in which they live. This is a project that they voted on to work on, and theirs to finish. It will better the quality of their lives, both today and for their future.
"The materials that you have helped to buy will enable our kids to evaluate and then control the local water that flows through the school property. It will enable the students to have more hands-on experiences in the field of environmental science, and 'see' a concrete example of how they can influence their world.
"As we come back in the Fall, we will get the materials integrated into the program as quickly as possible. We will have updates at that time." (Fixing the Ditch)
Neat, right? "Making a difference in the lives of my students..." That's what it's all about.
Want to see more? All the pics below are links to projects with even more pics of students hard at work (and play!) with the cool tools and supplies we bought for them. If you need a pick-me-up, you probably won't do better than this today:
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Microfinance & Donors Choose
None of this would be possible without DonorsChoose.org. I have no affiliation with them, but I've become a virtual evangelist for them in the past couple of years. They make it possible for average Joes like you and me to make a big impact with very small dollar amounts. This model is called "micro-finance". The general idea is that in the context of poverty, relatively small amounts of money (whether in the form of loans or gifts) can have a tremendous impact on people's lives. It's the idea that animates organizations such as Heifer International, Kiva, and Vittana.
The particular brilliance of DonorsChoose.org, however, lies in their ability to connect you so directly with the individuals you're helping. Because their model is direct (you help a specific classroom, not a general fund) and reciprocal (you get notes and pictures), you become uniquely invested in the recipient's success. Frankly, it's addictive.
Check out this report by CNN. It's a great intro (I'll post a transcript in the comments):
And, it's not just helping kids directly. It's also helping indirectly in that it serves to educate the public as to the current state of educational funding. It's a wake-up call.
This quote is from an NPR interview with Charles Best, the founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org:
Does it ever, though, bum you out to think that you're having to buy pencils for kids? It does. And people are right to ask whether the government ought to be providing most of the requests posted on DonorsChoose.org. And what I would point to is what happened in North Carolina when former Governor Jim Hunt came across a proposal on DonorsChoose.org for a class set of dictionaries in his home county. He got really angry to think that there was a classroom near to him that didn't have dictionaries. And he called up local school officials to find out what was going on.
And when we surveyed our donors, we found out that Governor Hunt's experience was actually characteristic of our whole donor-base. Sixty percent of our donors said that they were now more interested in public education reform as a result of their Web site experience at DonorsChoose.org because it was their first really vivid personal encounter with what's going on in public schools in low-income communities and with the unmet needs of students in our public schools.
- Charles Best, CEO & Founder, DonorsChoose.org
NPR, December 4, 2007
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Next Steps
We continue onward. Every Friday, we're going to continue to do our best to combat ignorance by rescuing math and science projects in those areas where they are most at risk: red America.
We'd love for you to join us. Whether you want to do it for the sheer political spite of it, or just for the warm fuzzies of helping kids, we want you shoulder-to-shoulder with us.
Here's what you can do:
1. Join us every Friday afternoon (including tomorrow!) around 3:00-ish (Eastern) for "The Inoculation Project". Even if money's tight and you can't donate, your comments and Recs are always needed and appreciated.
2. Sign up for the mailing list. It's not a discussion list, so you won't get spammed with tons of e-mails. It's just for letting people know when that week's diary is up, and for the occasional call for substitute hosts.
3. Rec this up. We need eyeballs.
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Finally, a Word of Thanks
To everyone who has ever donated, commented, Rec'd, or spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, Open Threads, etc., many thanks. Your efforts are appreciated.
And to the small (but growing!) cadre of loyal Inoculators who stuck around week after week, through lean and fat times, my deepest gratitude. I'd name names, but I'm terrified I'd leave someone out. You all know who you are. To you, I say: Ya done good.