Welcome to The Inoculation Project! This week, we're helping a high-poverty Kansas City middle school stock up on engaging science books. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, an organization founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau. If you’re short on cash, don’t worry — we’re glad to see you anyway! And your tips, recs, shares, and so on are a good free way to help, by helping us get on the rec list and catch more eyes. Join us below for all the fun!
Note from our friend calister23, in the comments:
This week only, any donation you make to this project will be doubled if you enter the code LIFTOFF at checkout!
There’s a box to enter this code near the top of the page where you say how you’re paying. I wish I had known about this earlier! Many thanks to calister23!
NEW LONG-TERM PROJECT
Use code LIFTOFF at checkout to trigger matching!
Resources: My students need story books in order to connect the importance of ELA skills in the science classroom.
School Poverty Level: Highest
Location: Central Middle School, Kansas City, Kansas
Total: $468.98
Still Needed: $468.98 $76.92
Expires: April 28, 2017 (only 26 days left!)
Teacher’s Comments from Mr. Xavier:
My Students: As a science teacher in a low income public school with a student body of 636 students, 98% of which are on free/reduced price lunch and 93% of the students being minority students. These students have limited access to supplies at home and in the classroom as well.
I strive to give my students experiences that relate to their interests and engage them in learning new content material.
However, this is difficult with limited supplies and being unable to ask students to bring in additional materials for projects.
My Project: My students need storybooks about science topics to help gain their interest and excite them as we dive into learning about various topics. These books will not only reinforce the science concept but will also reinforce ELA concepts for my students as well.
My students need to see that reading and science work hand in hand so they can become more well-rounded learners in every classroom they enter.
These books will be used this year and for years to come in various ways to engage the students. Some ways that we will be using these books this school year are:
We will be completing a research project over various scientist and contributors to science.
We will do a book report project over the physical science and life science books. This project will be two-fold as the book will get them engaged with introductory materials that they will then take further by completing a research project that corresponds to their book reports!
DONATE HERE: Use code LIFTOFF at checkout to trigger matching!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Titles requested for this project:
The Story of Science: Newton at the Center
Who Was Galileo?
Who Was Ben Franklin?
Who Was Thomas Alva Edison?
Who Was Isaac Newton?
Who Was Marie Curie?
Who Was Albert Einstein?
Who Were the Wright Brothers?
Over and Under the Pond
The Amazing Story of Cell Phone Technology: Max Axiom STEM Adventures
The Amazing Story of the Combustion Engine: Max Axiom STEM Adventures
When the Wolves Returned: Restoring Nature's Balance in Yellowstone
What If There Were No Bees?: A Book About the Grassland Ecosystem
What Can We Do about Invasive Species?
The Illuminating World of Light with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
A Journey into Adaptation with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The World of Food Chains with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The Shocking World of Electricity with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
Engineering a Totally Rad Skateboard with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The Attractive Story of Magnetism with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
A Crash Course in Forces and Motion with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The Powerful World of Energy with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The Science of Basketball with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The Science of Basketball: The Top Ten Ways Science Affects the Game
The Science of Baseball: The Top Ten Ways Science Affects the Game
What Are Light Waves? (Light & Sound Waves Close-Up)
The Science of Baseball with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
The Science of Football with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
Shark vs. Penguin (Predator Vs. Prey)
Sound Waves and Communication
Hey Diddle Diddle: A Food Chain Tale
Lion vs. Gazelle (Predator Vs. Prey)
Aliens from Earth: When Animals and Plants Invade Other Ecosystems
The Science of Hockey: The Top Ten Ways Science Affects the Game
World Without Fish
Pass the Energy, Please!
The Surprising World of Bacteria with Max Axiom, Super Scientist
Last week, we finished three projects, for a series total of 563! Good work, everyone! Two of the projects had matching offers through DonorsChoose’s #BestSchoolDay program, which helped us complete so many. Many thanks to all who supported these projects, whether financially or by helping increase their visibility.
- In our main project, Hands-on Math, Ms. Alley’s Idaho high school will receive individual white boards with the X-Y coordinate grid printed on one side, so each student can practice graphing equations.
Thank you all for donating to my classroom project. The materials requested for this project will be used year after year and will benefit approximately 160 students per year. I look forward to helping my students learn to graph the many different types of equations they will encounter (some of them in life)…
- Meanwhile, in a Mississippi high school, Mr. Rapisarda’s students will meet after school to create a “scientific garden” in a plot at their local community garden, using the gardening equipment supplied by the project Gifts for a Garden: Help the RFP!
I am extremely grateful for the generous donations that have been given to me and my project. With the help of the Overdeck Foundation, as well as some extremely amazing individuals from across the country, we have reached our fundraising goal in less than a week! I cannot wait to share the wonderful things that my students will achieve with these materials. Thank you so much!
- And another after-school group, this time for students in grades 3-5 in Ferguson, Missouri, will receive a synthesizer to help them study sound waves and how sound is produced, with the help of their music teacher, Ms. Kowalczyk and the project The Science Behind the Music.
Oh wow! This is certainly the #BestSchoolDay! My students are so excited that you helped us to fund this project. I am a firm believer in adding science and math to my music classes as much as I can. Having a synthesizer will allow my students to explore sound production. Thank you very much for your kindness and generosity! Stay tuned for an update and pictures!
Our Dollars at Work
Back in May of last year, we helped Louisiana students in Dr. Loftus’s high school biology classes with supplies for an axolotl breeding program. They are studying genetics as well as ecology, biogeochemical cycles and physiology. The project was Hands on Genetics with Axolotl Breeding. (More photos at the link.)
Thank you so much for your help in creating our axolotl aquarium systems. The impact of this project has been larger than I originally imagined. I've seen an increase in motivation and comprehension as well as improvement in student behavior because of the materials we received from you.
Motivation to learn has never been higher in my classes. Students can't wait to get to work on the aquariums and eagerly volunteer to test the water and make sure the tanks are just right for our axolotls. The nitrogen cycle makes sense to them now--something that confused and frustrated my previous students because it had no context. Having such a charismatic animal in our classroom makes it easy to teach complicated topics; my students have already learned what phenotype means, months before our genetics unit, because it applies to the axolotls…
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project is an effort to combat the anti-science push in conservative America by providing direct funding to science and math projects in traditionally red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, an organization founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau. DonorsChoose allows you to contribute to specific, vetted projects in public schools, resulting in tremendous and immediate impacts from small-dollar donations. Here’s an introductory video about DonorsChoose featuring Michelle Obama and Stephen Colbert.
Each Sunday morning, we focus on helping to fund one or two science and math projects in traditionally red-state schools, preferably in highest-poverty districts. We welcome everyone who shares our interest — no money is required! Your tip, rec, republish, comment, or share helps bring us more eyes, and besides, we like the company of others who love kids and education. Feel free to post a link or video, or just tell us how your weather is!
Finally, here’s our list of successfully funded projects. The success-list diary now also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose, formerly found in this space.