Apps for At-Risk Youth Keep 'Em From Dropping Out, That's Truth!
My students need one iPad to use apps to complete inquiry-based learning like Monster Physics. My students need one Apple VGA adapter to project lessons on smart-board.
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.
My Students
My students are often unmotivated to learn without some technology use in the classroom. I want them to utilize the iPad and download a variety of apps to support inquiry-based learning and higher-order critical thinking skills. "Practice does not make perfect, but it surely makes you better".
I teach high school science to 11th- and 12th-grade at-risk students at an alternative school.
These students often have a variety of behavioral problems or learning disabilities that prevent them from functioning in their regular school. When I allow students to utilize any technology in their learning, students are more engaged and learning becomes more meaningful to them.
With budget cuts, my school tries its best to provide general supplies, but not advanced technology such as iPads. Teachers at my school will often purchase what they need or teach without it. If I allow my at-risk students to use the iPad apps, I believe they will stay in school, use what they learn, and find getting an education to be very useful. I hope my students gain a renewed passion for learning and not drop out of school, because teachers can't afford not to make learning culturally relevant to their lives.
My Project
I hope to challenge these students using apps with the requested iPad, to get them intrinsically motivated to understand and love science, especially Physics. These students are smart and capable of learning when presented with a challenge or technology. For example, when I teach projectile motion, I can show examples from the Angry Birds app, versus drawing pictures on the board.
I can also use Monster Physics to teach Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravity. Our students rarely get the opportunity to go on field trips or work with real projectiles. Having an iPad will help students to not only grasp concepts better in class, but it will give them hands-on learning that they can experience and manipulate for themselves. I hope my students will be able to use educational apps to think, analyze, and synthesize what they learn to reach learning goals they set for themselves.
With drop-out rates on the rise today, I must foster a suitable environment to get all my students to learn.
We currently don't have any technology such as an iPad to incorporate educational apps into the students' learning experiences. With the requested iPad, they will use higher-order thinking skills to create, innovate, and utilize Web 2.0 tools to enhance their learning and application of Physics. Using apps on the iPad will prepare my students to be pioneers of the 21st-century digital age of technology.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Pugh and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.