This week, we’re helping a Dallas high school class get some frogs to dissect, and a Kentucky middle school class get microscope slides to help them understand cell division. 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.
We have two new projects this week (are words that I love to type!)
Way back in 2009, when hyperbolic pants explosion started this series, she was doing it a little differently: she was finding modest projects expiring THAT DAY, and the anxiously-waiting donors would jump on and complete them. It was brilliant, but stressful, and when she had to step back, we, her heirs, decided we needed to change how we did this, if we hoped not to burn out.
Today, however, a little shy of the September birthdays of both hpe and this series, we’re jumping in on this excellent find by the ever-vigilant Eastern Bluebird. We get some grace because it expires Tuesday, not today, but I’m sure, between our donations and the outside donors our activity attracts, we’ve got this.
Mrs. Simms hopes to give her Dallas high school students a chance to dissect a frog!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students frogs so they can experience dissection. This will give them an incredibly memorable experience.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Sunset High School, Dallas, Texas
Total: $868.02
Still Needed: $157.85 Completed, YAY!! Thank you! Please consider project #2 below.
Project description by Mrs. Simms: The students I work with are hard working and caring students that have so much going on outside of school. They work, cook, clean, and take care of their brothers and sisters as well as their families. Giving them this experience will help them learn the human body and it will show that that science is fun and it could inspire some of the students to become a doctor or a nurse one day. The students at my school really deserve a project like this so that they can learn and grow and maybe teach someone else about the organs in a body and about science.
The school I work at is a High School in the Oak Cliff Area in Dallas, Texas.
For those who do know this is South Dallas and the students here don't get opportunities to have fun with science. I have seen little projects like a strawberry DNA lab, where students get to extract DNA from a strawberry, make a big impact on students thinking about their future and a career in science.
I believe this dissection laboratory will make a big impact on students and their futures.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
I always hesitate, on dissection projects, to show an actual dissection, because many people don’t want to see that! So I was interested to see this video of a product called SynFrog. This is an entirely artificial frog model intended to replace dissection of formerly-live animals. I’m quite impressed with how it looks. It is most certainly out of reach, price-wise, for any classroom that struggles to afford real preserved frogs, but for our purposes, it may make the video watchable for more of our readers.
Mrs. Welch wants her Kentucky middle school students to have sets of microscope slides that will help them learn about plant mitosis!
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students prepared microscope slides that will allow them to visualize cell division.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than half of students from low‑income households.
Location: Winburn Middle School, Lexington, Kentucky
Total: $271.99
Still Needed: $161.99 $47.58
Project description by Mrs. Welch: My students are naturally curious and thrive on interactive, hands-on activities. Their enthusiasm and understanding soar when they can engage directly with the material. Using microscope slides to observe cell division will allow them to become young scientists, exploring and discovering the wonders of cell biology firsthand. This hands-on approach makes learning more engaging and enjoyable and fosters a deeper and more lasting understanding of the subject matter.
Examining real-life cell division through microscope slides allows students to witness the intricate details and stages of mitosis, transforming abstract textbook concepts into tangible, memorable experiences.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
The narration in this video doesn’t simplify the language for non-scientists, but it isn’t hard to get the idea of what’s going on, and it’s pretty amazing to see it happen!
Both our projects from last week were completed! I can never say enough how much I love this community!
Project #1, This is YOUR BRAIN ....: At a Detroit high school, Ms. Bailey sees a path to inject some science into her social studies classes.
She writes: Your support is priceless. It truly goes beyond a financial donation because my students are always grateful when they find out the donation was for them.
All the teachers at my school will benefit from your gracious donations.
Pathways Academy is blessed because of you. I am teaching my students to pay it forward and we will do something in our community in honor of your donation.
Project #2, Ms. Urbina's Fossil Project: Ms. Urbina is a never-before-funded teacher in the Texas border city of Laredo. Her three classes of fifth graders are very excited to create an art extravaganza about fossils.
She writes: I thank you for your kind generosity towards our school and students! I look forward to the process of creating wonderful science projects with my students and expanding their creativity skills. I believe that hands on activities are the best way for students to learn and grow academically. Thank you once again for your thoughtfulness and donations! 😊
| 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 1118! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.
