My project needs a classroom set of calculators, 35, in the same model as our math teachers use, so that students have a consistent experience.
$946 goal
This project expired on March 21, 2008.
This project expired on March 21, 2008.
The Catapult and Trebuchet Project is an exciting time in physics classes! Students learn the historical background and principles of these medieval siege engines, and then groups of students work together to choose a style to design, and plan and build on their own catapult or trebuchet. Students are excited about this project as soon as it is announced!
Students learn how to conduct research online, how to design, plan and build a structure, how to work together to reach their goals, as well as the physics behind the forces and involved. They test their completed siege engines against other student teams, by launching water balloons at opposing teams. If you are dry and your opponents are soaked, you win!
As part of an initiative with the entrepreneurship group NFTE (the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship), our students beginning this year, are also responsible for budgeting the cost of materials and supplies for this project, as well as for the mathematical portions of the entire physics curriculum each year. The budgeting process of this process requires calculators. We would like to have a classroom set of calculators, the TI-30xIIs, to be available for and dedicated to this well-loved, well-known project. This is part of a focus on entrepreneurship in communities such as ours, across the state. The budgeting process helps us to meet state curriculum standards and to better equip our students to face the world of business once they graduate high school. The TI-30xIIs model was chosen to provide our students with experience using calculators that will be consistent with a model used in many of the math courses that students are commonly enrolled in while they are in physics.
Our school is located in a rural area with over 1680 students. This project is conducted by approximately 220 students in physics classes of mostly juniors and seniors, who are taking applied physics, college preparatory physics, or honors physics. This project has been conducted for several years now, and is a high-profile, positive way to get students interested in physics and in science in general. We try to foster a strong interest in science, and encourage our seniors to take a 4th science class during high school, even though they may not need it for graduation.
The requested set of TI-30xIIs calculators would benefit many students each year, and would last many years. The students who would receive the benefits from this project will typically be students who often stay in our community to work in family businesses or to start their own businesses. Students often look forward to physics classes, and remember the classroom experience and this amazing project experience for years to come.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
100 students impacted
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