CAUTION: Science and Boredom Should Never Be Mixed!

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.

If there is one conviction that needs to be firmly established in middle-school science classrooms, it is that science and boredom should never be mixed. Yet sadly, a common complaint among students and teachers alike, is that science is boring. I believe this is because of the textbooks used. These books are often too difficult for students to read. They fail to keep abreast of new discoveries, and often are so poorly written that they inspire only boredom and a resulting disinterest in science. I am a sixth-grade science teacher who wants to help students develop their natural curiosity in all things science. I teach about 150 students, covering all aspects of science but focusing mainly on life science issues. I want to make sure that science and boredom never mix again in my school. An important part of making science fun is to have inspiring, relevant, beautiful and well-written books to show students a glimpse of the wonders of science. I am writing this proposal to ask for funding to purchase 29 of the latest and best resource books for kids who desperately want to find science interesting and compelling. I teach sixth-grade science and technology to 150 students at C.I.S. 303, the Leadership and Community Service Academy. We are a public middle school with about 350 students total. Located in the South Bronx of New York City, almost every one of our students receives free school lunch. My school serves what is considered to be an under-resourced population, composed mostly of African-American and Latina/o children. Sadly, I have only a few non-fiction science books in my classroom. For this proposal, in order to select the best science books for my students, I researched and consulted the National Science Teachers Association's picks for the best science books for kids published in 2004. These books are all of great interest to middle-school students, covering everything from new discoveries about dinosaurs ("Feathered Dinosaurs of China") to the possibilities of life on other planets ("Are We Alone? Scientists Search for Life in Space"). Many of them, including great books like "American Women Inventors", fill a need for science books about women and other underrepresented groups and their important contributions to science. We are losing some of the best potential future scientists in the world to boredom!Please help make my classroom a place that inspires curiosity. Mixing great new science books with some very deserving students could very possibly help create the great scientists of tomorrow! Thank you.