Scroll down for this week's project. On tap this week: Going Green in the Desert!
Reminder: Look for "The Inoculation Project" every Friday afternoon!
The Inoculation Project: Math & Science in Red State Schools
Solid science education is the best inoculation against ignorance.
The objective of this weekly project is to combat the anti-science push in conservative America by providing direct funding each week to math and science projects in red state classrooms.
Fortunately, a conduit organization for achieving this direct funding already exists: DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org allows you to make direct contributions to specific classroom projects (all vetted), resulting in tremendous and immediate impacts from small dollar donations.
Each week we focus on funding a single small-dollar project in a traditionally red state classroom. These are projects whose funding requests are expiring within the next week. If the projects are not funded by their expiration date, they die.
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This Week's Project
Project: Going Green in the Desert
Resources Needed: a terrarium and books, to study ecosystems and the water cycle in order to become more aware of the need to conserve water and take care of our planet.
School Poverty Level: High
State: Texas
Total Cost: $212.19
Still Needed: $187.19 $122.19
Expires: May 21, 2011
Click to Donate
Teacher's Comments:
My Students
I believe that science is the key to engaging my students and opening their eyes to the world around them. Teaching the water cycle in the desert is a challenge. Having a terrarium in the classroom would enable them to experience this phenomena.
Our school district has an enrollment of 1340 students, of these 93.7% are considered economically disadvantaged. My first graders are English language learners and they are so excited to be in the classroom. I have found that the key to engagement is science. By building projects that interest them, I can integrate different subjects and make learning fun.
My Project
First grade students are, by and large, visual learners. They want to see and experience first hand what they are learning. Using books and videos can only take them so far. Creating and maintaining a terrarium in the classroom would engage them for the rest of the year. There are so many lessons that they can take away from this project. We would begin with the water cycle. Another choice for lessons would be studying the interdependence of organisms in the natural world. Social studies and character building are also choices when considering the "going green" movement to save our planet. Reinforcing the need to take care of the Earth by conserving our natural resources and adding biodegradable objects vs plastic to document the effects is another option. Citizenship, responsibility and caring are character traits that I would like to build at an early age. A miniature planet in the classroom would be a major tool for us to utilize for many lessons.
Your donation to this project would make a difference in the lives of these desert dwellers. My students have a hard time understanding what the water cycle is and how it impacts our lives. This terrarium would provide a much needed springboard to teach the water cycle, conservation, natural resources, and civic responsibility, etc.
Please consider rescuing this project by making a small donation to it. Small dollars make a big difference.
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Good News
Our last project, Do You Know What Your DNA Looks Like? Neither Do They!, got rescued!
Here's what the teacher had to say:
I was so thrilled at seeing this project was fully funded today that it literally made my week.
This semester all my classes have really enjoyed doing hands on labs, but it has been a real shame that I could not do as many as I would have liked with them. Also my CP classes have really struggled with the concept of DNA and protein synthesis, so the knowledge that in future I have the model kits to be able to do hands on labs with to explore this particular concept and enhance their understanding is brilliant and a real weight off my shoulders (that I never even knew was there!)
Everyone in my department is excited to be using them next year. Thank you so much.
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Projects Funded So Far
Our list of successfully funded projects has gotten so huge, we gave it its own separate diary!
We're up to 100 funded projects.
Go check it out! (And be sure to click on the links for pictures of the kids working with the resources we provided for them.)
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Helpful Links
DonorsChoose.org
DonorsChoose.org Blog
DonorsChoose.org Donor FAQ
All DonorsChoose.org Math & Science Projects
Disclaimer: We are in no way affiliated with DonorsChoose.org, or any of the classroom projects presented for funding. We're just volunteering our time and pixels to make a difference.