Can You Help Modernize Our Lab, Reaching All Chemistry/Physics Students?
Help me give my students probes to investigate force, electrical current, and gas pressure and polarized light for their Chemistry and Physics lab experiments.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. V.'s classroom raised $615
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
Our urban public high school is as diverse racially, culturally, and economically as our large metropolitan city.
Our student population is by majority Hispanic (70%), followed by Asian, White, Black, Pacific Islander, and various other groups.
Almost all my students classify in our state's lowest economic category, which qualifies them for financial assistance such as reduced lunch and free tutoring programs. For nearly 50% of my students, the primary language that their family speaks at home is not English. Many of our students were classified as ESL students (English as a Second Language), when they began high school, but have now been reclassified as English Proficient. Due to funding cuts, science classes at our public high school have recently increased to average sizes of 44 students per class. We are not a private school, so in order to give these young students the best college prep environment, our science lab programs truly survive from donations and grants.
My Project
Do you remember the first time you used technology in your science educational experience? Was it a computer, or an electronic balance, or maybe a digital thermometer?
Today, instead of only using glass thermometers, stopwatches, or meters, it is becoming beneficial for Chemistry and Physics labs to have computer linked instruments to collect and analyze data digitally.
Thanks to previous DonorsChoose.org donations, I have been modernizing my Chemistry & Physics lab room with computer measurement probes.
We are making great progress but we need more supplies.
For the past 9 years, I have been researching economically priced computer tools for my Chemistry and Physics students, hoping to build up a basic computer lab program that will prepare students for the advanced technology they will see in college. Thanks to past donations, we now have computer interface stations to accommodate at least 12 groups of students at a time (25-30 students). Each station (which is called a Vernier LabQuest Mini) attaches to one of our current computers and allows students to makes measurements with temperature probes, sonar sensors, pH probes, and force sensors.
Then, last January 2018, I received 20 used, but great, iMac computers donated from a university in our city. So now we will be able to include every student in our computer lab experiments simultaneously. But we are in need of more electric current sensors, force probes, and gas sensors. With these probes, students will be able to collect, share, and store scientific lab data digitally on a computer using the our current computer system.
The greatest benefit that will come to my students will be an improved, lab experience that motivates them to pursue science in their colleges and careers. As a public school, we do rely on donations. Anything you can do would be greatly appreciated.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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 Mr. V. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
