This week, we're helping a rural Arkansas eighth grade get copies of the book Hidden Figures, and a rural Mississippi class of gifted second-graders get Snap Circuits to help them explore electricity. 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.
This never-before-funded teacher in Arkansas hopes to inspire her eighth-grade students in math and computer science.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students their own copies of the book Hidden Figures so that we can learn about diversity, compassion, and determination.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Midland High School, Pleasant Plains, Arkansas
Total: $215.74
Still Needed: $215.74 $109.71
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. McFarland:
My Students: The majority of students in our school come from a low-income area. Our school has received a grant for free breakfasts and lunches for all students. We are a rural school with students who have a limited exposure to the world beyond our small community.
Students need collaborative spaces to be able to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving activities together.
In these collaborative groups, my students learn how to communicate effectively and solve problems creatively. I want my students to be well-prepared for college and career opportunities. The more I prepare them for the future, the better our future looks.
My Project: I want to make sure that my students have all the skills that they need to be successful in life.
Katherine Johnson said, "Let me do it.
You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backwards and tell you when to take off."
Although she was talking about the landing on the moon, it really speaks to me as a teacher. I want my students to know how, why, when, where, and what they will be doing with their lives.
This class set of Hidden Figures will be used for a book study in my computer class. We will read, research, and reflect on the hidden figures in this book and set goals for how we can become someone who can change the world. I hope to share with them the virtues of empathy and compassion, and I will also throw in a little math and computer science as we explore the world of the computer programming languages Python, Java, JavaScript, and HTML.
Will you help me encourage my students to be all that they can be? Their future can be bright, and you can help light the way with your donation.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Here’s another never-before-funded teacher, this one in Mississippi, hoping to provide a way for her second grade ‘gifted’ class to experiment with electricity on their own individual levels.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students Snap Circuits Electronic Discovery Kits of various difficulty levels that will introduce my students to the basic properties of electricity and electronics.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Ward Stewart Elementary School, Starkville, Mississippi
Total: $288.08
Still Needed: $288.08 $187.93
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Crump:
My Students: I teach 2nd grade gifted students. We are located in a small town in Mississippi where over 75% of our students live in poverty. They do not have money to buy lunch, much less supplies for projects. Only 1 in 4 students have any type of technology at home.
In my gifted program, I teach process skills to help students understand how they learn and think.
Included in these process skills are many goals related to critical thinking, technology, logic skills, analytical skills, problem solving, and preparing students for careers in the 21st century.
My students are incredibly smart and love opportunities to invent and create new things. They enjoy the challenge of logic puzzles and building structures with many different types of materials. We have completed several STEM activities where the students use their critical thinking skills to solve specific problems. It is exciting to see them so actively involved in their learning and observe their creativity in each challenge.
My Project: Snap Circuits teach students the fundamentals behind circuitry and electricity. The Snap Circuits kit uses building blocks with snaps that snap on and snap off a plastic board. Each block has a function. There are switch blocks, lamp blocks, battery blocks, different wire length blocks and more.
The Snap Circuit kits contain activities in a variety of difficulty levels and gives children hands-on experiences with switches, magnetism, lights, electrical meters, generators, compasses, magnetic fields, series circuits, and parallel circuits.
Students will learn how to read diagrams, follow written and visual instructions, and create a functional and interactive model. Projects range from lighting a bulb with a switch, simulating a flying saucer, to creating a police siren sound by clapping your hands.
The kits will provide unlimited learning opportunities for my students since they can be used later for do-it-yourself projects after they learn the basics of electricity.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our two ambitious projects from last week were completed, with the help of generous matching funds!
In Basic Essentials, Mr. Lahrmann’s Houston 5th graders will get numerous books, Snap Circuits, and other materials to help with a very creative interactive-notebook project in which they’ll consider many aspects of designing their own home. He writes: Thanks for all the support! My students will be so excited about their new resources! Without you this wouldn't be possible! I look forward to the many things to come out of these resources! My students will be beyond excited! Thanks for taking us to the next level! You rock!
Another Texas 5th grade will receive a digital microscope thanks to Exploring the World Around Us by Digital Microscope. This will allow magnified images to be shown on a screen, so the whole class can see tiny things with only one instrument. Ms. Romero writes: I have wonderful news. We have been fully funded for our Digital Microscope. We look forward to using this digital microscope in our life science unit. Thank you so much — this means the world to us. We get to use state of the art equipment to pursue our learning. Thank you.
Our Dollars at Work
In August, we were able to help Mrs. L.’s 3rd grade in Georgia get a supply of real, whole geodes they could break open themselves. (I love her note!) The project was Rocks Rock! (More photos at the link.)
This project was an experience that my students will not forget. In years past my students created "geodes" using Epsom salt, water and food dye in an egg shell. This project showed students what a geode can look like, but it was not an authentic experience. With the help of my donors my current students got to crack open real geodes. This authentic experience is one that will stick with them through the years.
Each student was given one of the geodes in a bag labeled with their name. They were asked to make predictions about what would happen when we hit the rock with the hammer. The idea of getting to wear goggles and hit things with hammers in the name of science was enough to put a huge smile on most of the faces in my room. Actually doing the activity brought even larger smiles to all of the faces.
This experience would not have been possible with out DonorsChoose and the donors on the site. Thank you so much for everything.
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 716! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.