Act Now! Your donation will ensure that diverse inner-city students continue to receive the quality science education that has helped them matriculate into engineering programs at Harvard, University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois-Urbana, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Carnegie Mellon, Emory-Riddle, and University Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, the computer you fund will be available to students before and after school as a general resource, and to my advisory(homeroom) to explore, and apply to colleges.
This rigorous college preparatory science education is at risk due to the lack of funds from Chicago Public Schools.
The problem!
The current computers are over eight years old, and either no longer work or cause serious problems when they are used. Here are the words of one of our students to explain the problem from her viewpoint:
"To Whom It May Concern:
Having the privilege of being a student at this high school often clouds the reality of the school lacking essential educational tools. Many subjects, science primarily, not only need basic tools to help students learn, but can also increase the depth to which an activity can be analyzed using computers. Yes, this school is a privileged school. However, as the great school we are deemed to be the problems we encounter should be both recognized and solved. I have dealt with this experience firsthand in Physics: while doing a lab the failure of the computer essentially wasted a solid thirty minutes of my experiment time, as well as preventing further collection of data thus hindering my knowledge on the topic and forcing me to recuperate lost time on my own. Class time is short enough to cover an entire genre of science. Shouldn’t this time be spent efficiently, instead of trying to fix the Excel program that shutdown 20 times in the last 20 minutes?"
In addition sometimes the students receive inaccurate data from the computers because the computers are so old that they are incompatible with current software and probes. This makes a challenging process, frustrating, and annoying, undermined the momentum and curiously that the class has built up.
The technology in this class has the potential to spark, or rekindle interest in science, and it would be a shame to let the quality of instruction slip away due to inadequate funding.
The Solution
The solution is simple; replace the existing dilapidated computers with new, basic, Dell Inspiron 15 laptop. This is not a new program, or a pie-in-sky dream, that may or may not work; the curriculum exists and produces results, but needs to be maintained with your help. This computer will begin the updating process and will allow the learning to continue.
The school, the students, and the curriculum:
I teach at an inner-city public magnet high school, where the most talented students from every neighborhood in Chicago come to realize their potential. Our school actively pursues a diverse student body, and the statistics reflect this: in 2008 our demographic was 37% white, 19% black, 19% Hispanic, 14% Asian, and 9.4% multi-racial, and overall 28% low income.
I personally teach Freshman Honors Physics, Junior Honors Physics, and Advanced Placement Physics C – which employs calculus in the study of physics. The demographics of AP Physics class also reflects the school’s mission of success for all students, the demographic last year was: 35% Asian, 30% White, 15% Black, 15% Hispanic, and 5% multi-racial, in addition the class was 60% female. This group of students also demonstrated a deep understanding with 80% earning college credit (by scoring a 4 or 5 on the AP exam) for one semester of college physics for engineers and scientists, and 55% earning two full semesters of credit. This teaching and learning at our school not only prepares these students for college, some even earn credit in college classes, and technology is an essential piece of this education.
To better understand my personal goals as an educator I share these words from a student: "Thank you. I have enjoyed your physics class this year and want to thank you not only for giving me a solid foundation of physics but for helping me realize the importance of learning for the sake of learning. This class has been one of my favorite learning experiences at this school"
As I stated above, a fundamental aspect of our physics instruction is technology. The first year physics course is designed so that students learn the core concepts of force, motion, and electricity by doing the work that scientist do: they design experiment, collect and analyze data, and present their results in graphical and mathematical representation. It is these mathematical representations, or models, that are the equations most of us remember as physics.
Each unit begins with an investigation of the core concept using the computer with force sensors, photogates, motion detectors and a range of other probes as well as video analysis, and then culminates with performance assessment where the students must use their new understanding and the technology to solve a challenging real-world problem. In addition computers are used to perform research, create reports and presentations, and run simulations for concepts such as electricity where an actual hands-on investigation is not practical. Computers are essential to our way of teaching, which produces results, and this way of teaching is at risk.