The Inoculation Project, founded in 2009 by hyperbolic pants explosion, is a group of Kossacks who gather weekly to combat the anti-science push in conservative America by providing direct funding to science and math projects in red state classrooms. Our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, a fifteen-year-old organization rated highly by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau. Here's a little introductory video about DonorsChoose. DonorsChoose.org allows you to make direct contributions to specific, vetted projects in public school classrooms, resulting in tremendous and immediate impacts from small dollar donations. Each week, we focus on funding a single small-dollar project at a time, in a traditionally red state classroom and preferably in a high-poverty district.
THIS WEEK’S MAIN PROJECT
Resources: A contaminated creek kit, forensics kit, and a microscope.
School Poverty Level: Highest
Location: Seventh Street Elementary School, N Little Rock, Arkansas
Total: $488.99
Still Needed: $488.99 $305.46
Expires: Jan 31, 2016
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Bissett:
My Students:
Creative thinking and enriching science experiences that spark imagination. I want my students to be creative problem solvers and scientific thinkers by the end of the year.
My students are truly amazing thinkers and desire quality learning experiences.
They love to learn interesting and new things in a fun and exciting way. They crave it and need it because they are gifted and talented students. They are intense, emotional and have needs that are not met in the regular classroom. I help challenge their minds and meet their needs! Our school is under construction. They are building new parts and remodeling others. The school has a 92% free and reduced lunch rate, and it is located in a low socioeconomic area. Many have never even left their neighborhood.
My Project:
My students will go on a CSI mystery. They will try to solve the mystery of the contaminated creek. They will try to solve what contaminated the creek, what happens when chemicals are spilled in our natural water ways, and what happens to the ecosystem of the creek. They will learn the importance of why dilution is not the solution. The learning does not stop there. Someone gets attacked while taking samples where the spill occurred. Students will have to figure out why someone wouldn't want samples taken from the creek and catch the attacker through forensic science. Through deductive reasoning and using the creative problem solving process students will solve both mysteries.
My classroom is a portable while the new wing is under construction.
We share a wall with another teacher and it is loud. The construction trucks that back up make a very loud beeping noise. These are challenges that we face everyday. I try to create learning experiences that spark creative thinking to help them forget about all the craziness going on around us.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
HOUSEKEEPING
Last week's main project, Help Our Birds — Help Our Community, was completed. Elementary school students in Battleboro, North Carolina will receive the supplies they need to observe and to learn about the birds in their community. Our long-term project, Math “Tool” Boxes, was also completed with a kossack assist. Elementary school students in Independence, Missouri will have lots of hands-on experience with a box full of a variety of math manipulatives. You can see the teacher's thank-you note at the link. Many thanks to all contributors!
See our list of successfully funded projects, which apparently can only be edited by nervousnellie. We're actually up to 492! We are rapidly approaching the '500 projects' completed milestone. Due to the upcoming holiday season and our busy schedules, we will not be able to celebrate the occasion until after the holidays regardless of when we reach the milestone.
When projects are not fully funded by their expiration date, donors are contacted by DonorsChoose and asked to choose another project to which to redirect their donations. Occasionally, a fully funded project is called off for some reason internal to the school/teacher, and funding is returned. We have no way of knowing why, but DonorsChoose handles those donations in the same way as for expired projects.
How is the poverty level defined at DonorsChoose.org?
Poverty level refers to the percentage of students at a given school who qualify for free and reduced lunch, which is considered a measure of economic need. To be deemed eligible for free lunch, a student's family income must be within 130% of the poverty line (a max of $29,055 for a family of four). For reduced lunch, the family income must be within 185% of the poverty level (a max of $41,348 for a family of four). Schools with 10%-39% of students receiving free/reduced lunch are denoted as "moderate poverty" while schools with more than 40% of students receiving free/reduced lunch are denoted as "high poverty". For projects submitted from a school where free lunch rate data is unavailable or unreliable, "Poverty Data Unavailable" will appear.
More information: DonorsChoose.org main page
DonorsChoose.org blog
About DonorsChoose.org
All DonorsChoose.org math & science projects search results
We are in no way affiliated with DonorsChoose.org, or any of the classroom projects presented for funding.
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You are welcome to use The Inoculation Project avatar as your DonorsChoose avatar if you wish. If you need instructions for uploading it to your DonorsChoose profile, you'll find them in this diary.
