Chromebooks For Cadets of Franklin Military Academy
My students need 4 Chromebooks and protective cases to work with online computer simulations and scientific models.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Wester's classroom raised $991
This project is fully funded
My Students
Students can't learn without applying knowledge and finding the relevance of content to their lives. These are the beliefs that drive my classroom instruction, where students are much more likely to be found collaborating, experimenting, or analyzing data than sitting at a desk writing notes.
Founded in 1980, Franklin Military Academy is the first public military high school in the nation.
Located in Richmond, VA, we currently serve about 220 middle school students and about 150 high school JROTC cadets from all over the city. Students are selected through an application process based on a holistic set of criteria, with a focus on leadership potential. Our students are mostly underprivileged and often lack important academic skills, but they are respectful, disciplined, and highly motivated to succeed.
What makes our school special, apart from its military identity, is its sense of community. Middle school students have mentors in high school cadets. Students cooperate in order to bring legitimacy and meaning to the military structure within which they operate and are given the chance to thrive. I am proud to have been teaching the students of Franklin Military for over five years, and I look forward to many more years of serving the students of this institution.
My Project
For years, research in science education has emphasized the value of inquiry - asking questions, testing hypotheses, and performing experiments - in improving student learning in science. These skills are intended to be integrated throughout the content of every science course to both enrich the content itself and help students learn how to think and act scientifically. Unfortunately, conducting authentic laboratory experiments in secondary science classrooms is often impractical, expensive, unsafe, and/or time-intensive. Nevertheless, teachers can still facilitate inquiry-based learning by using virtual labs and simulations because the only equipment these activities require is a computer with internet. Due to their versatility, Chromebooks may also be used for collaborative scientific work in the classroom, including online research; word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation creation; and for authentic data collections and analysis through USB, HDMI, and Bluetooth connections.
Most science classes at Franklin already have two or three computers in each classroom, but for the average class to have one computer for every two students, at least seven are required.
A small set of Chromebooks is the ideal solution to this problem because they can make use of the newly-installed wi-fi in our building, and they can be shared among all six science teachers. As a result, these Chromebooks would enhance student learning throughout the science department at Franklin Military.
Nearly all 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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