My students need 40 copies of the book "Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You!" as preparation reading for our year-long studies of physics, energy, and conservation.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
Tenth grade students want to energize their studies in physics! My tenth grade classroom is in a public charter high school. It is an urban, high-need environment catering to at-risk students, the majority of whom receive free/reduced-priced lunch. We are a college prep institution in which 100% of our graduates are accepted to four-year colleges. As a college preparatory school the curriculum is rigorous and expectations are high. Students from the city are chosen by a lottery to be part of our ninth grade class. Most students entering our school are generally below grade level, particularly in mathematics. Students enter school with little or no experience with scientific inquiry or scientific process skills.
Many of our students end up as the first generation of children in their families to graduate high school and/or attend college. Most deal with racial discrimination and violence on a daily basis outside of our school. Over the course of the school year we study physics while also studying the global energy situation. At the root of our studies is Global Warming. It may seem surprising, but despite all the news broadcasts, televisions commercials, and documentaries, my students don’t know much about global warming. As I mentioned before they come to our school below grade level in many cases, and also with many concerns about their personal lives. When they enter our school most of our students are more concerned with what is immediate — rewards and consequences. Our studies of global warming allow them to not only reflect upon their personal energy use, but also to think beyond themselves. It teaches them to think more globally.
"Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You" teaches about the science behind global warming, as well as activism. It teaches that anyone can help the cause and that individual actions count. I would love to have my students read this book over the summer or at the beginning of the school year. I want them to get a sense of the science they will be learning. More importantly, I want them to know early on in the school year that their sole efforts can make a difference in the world. I also want them to pass the knowledge they learn in my class onto others to cause greater change.
Your help in purchasing these books will ensure that my students have the opportunity to be inspired at the beginning of the school year. My hope is reading this book will energize them in their studies of physics—which will be difficult at times. Having an authentic learning experience introduced by the ideas in "Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You" can affect a student for the rest of his/her life.
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