My students need to have dissection kits for dissection of flowers. We will be buying the flowers for dissection. Therefore we need 12 dissection kits and trays. My students will need hands on materials to simulate cell division. Students need to be able to identify the parts of the flower that are involved in reproduction. They also need to be able to identify the difference between an animal cell and a plant cell.
I teach 7th grade science in Arkansas. Our students include a diverse population. We have students who live in poverty, and nearly 50% qualify for free and reduced lunches. I also have students in my class who are English as a second language learners. I feel fortunate to have the physical facility that we have. I do have lab tables and two sinks available to my students. The problem is that I do not have the equipment needed to do labs.
My students seem to fall into two categories. First there are the ones who are eager to learn and soak up every opportunity given them. The second category are the reluctant learners. These are the students who have not had good educational experiences or struggle with learning. They are students who need to be convinced to learn.
My school does not have the science lab equipment needed to have hands-on experiences with science. We do not have basic lab equipment such as beakers, test tubes, graduated cylinders and such. We only have enough lab equipment for teacher demonstration rather than hands-on inquiry by the students. My students crave hands-on, inquiry-based science. The first thing they ask is, "Can we do labs?" I want to be able to answer yes.
The Arkansas frameworks include dissecting a flower to analyze the reproductive system of angiosperms. They are also to differentiate between sexual and asexual reproduction in vertebrates and plants.
With the equipment you could provide, we can serve 300 middle school students. Another teacher and I will share the materials in order to assure that all of the students in 7th grade, in our school, will have access to these hands on activities.
Posters and drawings alone do not reach students who need kinesthetic learning. These supplies will give them hands-on, inquiry-based experience with the dissection of a flower. The botony and zoology coloring books will help them to identify the parts prior to the actual dissection. They will also be able to simulate meiosis and mitosis to better understand the splitting of cells. Each student will have a set of beads and build the stages of meiosis and mitosis. This can be a directed activity where each level of cell division is created by the students. We can then compare the similarities and differences in the cell division.
The dissection kits could possibly used in the future to dissect frogs if we can find funding for the specimens.
My students crave learning, but some of them are reluctant learners. They are fascinated with science and want to learn. But just using a textbook or watching teacher demonstration is not enough to inspire them. When I put hands-on materials in front of them, their eyes light up and they are ready to go. Discipline problems disappear. They are engaged in learning. When students learn to ask their own questions, investigate, analyze, and come up with their own conclusions, they become empowered in their own learning. This is the type of learning that can encourage them to be life-long learners.
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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. Sackschewsky and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.