As a chemistry and physics teacher, a typical day in my classroom involves my students using mathematical formulas to describe very large motion (in physics) and very small motion (in chemistry). By the end of the year, I want my students to have mastery of applying these formulas to the real world.
I work at a Title 1 school in Nashville, TN where all students receive free breakfast and lunch.
It is a diverse school, with large communities of Hispanic, African American, and Kurdish students. Every single student here is wonderful. Many of them have tumultuous home lives and that transfers over sometimes into school, but they have demonstrated to me time and time again that they want to learn and succeed in life. Sometimes they are just scared to ask for the help and tools they need.
My Project
In order to be successful, my students need to have scientific calculators. Physics is essentially a mathematics course applied to the world around us, and chemistry builds off of physics. Most of my students cannot afford the type of calculators needed to for the course. My desire is to have a classroom set of calculators that will be assigned to students to freely use on tests and in class assignments. With these calculators, my students will learn about the forces that hold our universe together and the mathematical models that have been created that can show the motion of anything with just a small formula. I think that is beautiful and I hope to convey that sentiment to my students.
This simple tool, I believe, will completely change the culture of my class.
All students will have access to a calculator and will no longer have to use their cell phones (which are a HUGE distraction to them). And while I have a few students who can do most of the math by hand, the majority of my students will need the aid of a calculator to succeed when we get to units that involve trigonometric and logarithmic functions.
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