This week, we’re helping two elementary school teachers, one in Mississippi hoping to offer some hands-on chemistry labs in the form of baking, and one in Arkansas needing robots for students learning to code. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help by sharing or supporting our featured projects.
The Inoculation Project is an ongoing, volunteer effort to crowdfund science, math, and literacy projects for public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
This week, we have two new projects!
Mrs. Sinquefield King teaches in a very tiny town in the far northwest corner of Mississippi. She has a terrific idea for a science project for her elementary-school students! And there are matching funds from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation: In celebration of seven years of Young Sheldon on CBS, The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation is thrilled to support STEM projects this Teacher Appreciation Week.
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students baking supplies to bake a chemistry cake and cookies experiment!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Dundee Elementary School, Dundee, Mississippi
Total: $317.45 (2x matching funds from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation)
Still Needed: $317.45 $43.04 ($22 from us)
Project description by Mrs. Sinquefield King: Welcome to our project for Baking a Chemistry Cake experiment for my students. We need ingredients for our chemistry cake. We need flour, sugar, baking powder, oil, and vanilla. We also need oil spray for our pans, to keep the cake from sticking to the pan. We need baking pans, baking sheets, and muffin pans to bake with. We are also requesting a mixer, bowls, measuring cups, and muffin liners.
Here is the lesson I will teach with these materials: Is baking a cake a chemical change?
Next time you bake a cake, think about this: The cake dough isn't really a cake, but when it's heated in the oven, a chemical reaction occurs and new bonds are formed. How does heat change things? It creates chemical reactions. When it comes to heat and baking, there are two types of chemical reactions to consider; one is “exothermic,” a reaction that produces heat, and the other is “endothermic,” a reaction that takes heat in. As you bake a cake, you are producing an endothermic chemical reaction that changes ooey-gooey batter into a fluffy, delicious treat!
A few things can happen when you bake a cake. Some chemical reactions to keep in mind while doing this tasty experiment are:
1. Heat helps baking powder produce tiny bubbles of gas, which makes the cake light and fluffy.
2. Heat causes protein from the egg to change and make the cake firm.
3. Oil keeps the heat from drying out the cake.
We will also experiment with leaving our an ingredient to compare the cakes.
Thank you for considering our project!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Here’s a five-minute TED-Ed lesson that covers some of the same ground as Mrs. Sinquefield King’s experiments.
Here’s a project from a never-before-funded teacher: the school library in this small Arkansas city north of Little Rock has a maker space where students can learn how to code, but so far, they have no actual robots to program! Mrs. Reaves hopes to fix that, and she has help in the form of matching funds from the Bezos Family Foundation: We’re helping more young people realize their potential by championing the science of learning and its application in everyday life. Please join us in giving back to help ensure that students and the educators who support them have what they need this year to learn, grow, and thrive.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students the opportunity to learn to code with Sphero Robots!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than half of students from low‑income households.
Location: Pine Forest Elementary School, Maumelle, Arkansas
Total: $443.26 (2x matching funds from Bezos Family Foundation)
Still Needed: $443.26 $118.85 ($60 from us)
Project description by Mrs. Reaves: In the library at Pine Forest Elementary we love books, but we also love Makerspace! As a part of our makerspace curriculum, computer coding is introduced to students as young as kindergarten! We do unplugged activities to make sure we understand coding commands, then we move on to coding on our Chromebooks using online platforms. Unfortunately, we don't have any robots for our students to use to try out their new coding skills.
In order to further our students' abilities when it comes to coding, we would like to purchase two Sphero Mini robots and accessories.
To have these robots available to our students would give them the opportunity to expand the coding knowledge that they currently have and apply it to other areas of their education.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Here’s a colorful ad from the manufacturer of the Sphero Mini.
I’m glad to say that both our projects from last week were completed! Many thanks to our readers, not all of whom are able to come in here and identify themselves but we love them nonetheless!
Project #1, Chemistry... Light Up My World: Ms. King wanted her Arkansas high school students to get some hands-on chemistry experience by making soaps and similar substances in the lab.
She writes: Thank you so much for your help in bringing these hands-on lab experiences to life. Students will get to make organic products that have real-life applications to the world that they live in. This would not be possible without your generosity, due to school funding limitations. On behalf of my students and myself, you are greatly appreciated. Thank you again.
Project #2, Math Centers Made Fun!: Ms. Holliday was hoping to get a set of learning centers, to help her St. Louis kindergarten students with early math concepts.
She writes: I hope this message finds you well and filled with joy, because that's exactly how your generosity has made me feel! On behalf of myself and all the students in my math small group, I wanted to express our deepest gratitude for your recent donation to our classroom.
Your support means the world to us. Thanks to your contribution, we are now equipped with the resources we need to enhance our learning experience and dive deeper into the fascinating world of mathematics. Your kindness has opened up endless possibilities for our growth and success.
I want you to know that your investment in our education will not go to waste. We are committed to making the most of every opportunity you've given us, and we promise to work diligently and passionately to achieve our goals.
Once again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your incredible generosity. Your belief in us has truly made a difference, and we are forever grateful.
DonorsChoose has developed the designation Equity Focus Schools to describe some schools that submit projects. They meet two criteria: at least 50% of students are Black, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multiracial, and at least 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the standard measure for school economic need. You can read more at the link about their efforts to address the longstanding inequity in education. |
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project seeks to fund science, math, and literacy projects in public school classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose, 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 projects 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 1101! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.