Being in an alternative school the students need more hands-on activities than most. Being a newer program with limited or hand me down resources I am lacking in some of the very basics to provide this.
Our school is primarily Juniors, Seniors and 5th year students who are struggling to graduate.
I have great students who want to do the best in life they can but are often left behind at home to fend for themselves; we have a 75% homeless population. Without a support system at home these students are struggling to make ends meet and school is not a priority.
The main reason we get students here is the meals we provide and the great environment we have created. We have so many dedicated teachers here that go above and beyond to help these students reach their goal of graduating. We have met our goal of increasing our number of graduates every year.
My Project
I am the only science teacher so these scales will be used in all the science classes that I teach, such as Chemistry, Earth Science and Biology. I have very old school triple beam balances which I use for our labs but for the sake of saving time digital scales would be nice.
The first class that will benefit from the scales is my Chemistry Class. I am planning on doing a lab that involves looking at limiting reagents of a baking soda and vinegar reaction. The students will need to measure out different amounts of baking soda to add to a consistent amount of vinegar to determine what the limiting factor was in the experiment.
This spring I will also be teaching a forensic science course where the students will be given a mock crime scene and need to solve the mystery. The scales and the finger print powders will be used for this unit. As the students collect clues from the "crime" scene the students will need to analyze it. This means they will compare different finger prints to find out who did it and weight different dirt samples, from shoes, to see if its a match and the crime can be solved.
These scales will be the beginning of being able to incorporate different labs into my classes.
This will impact the students by providing those hands-on experiences that help apply their learning to the read world and have that lasting effect on turning them into lifelong learners.
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