Help Inner-City Teens Discover the Invisible World With Functional Microscopes
Help me give my students a set of compound microscopes that actually work.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. King's classroom raised $890
This project is fully funded
My Students
"Man, we never do experiments in science class!" I'll never forget hearing one of my students express this my first year as a biology teacher. I was alarmed to hear it and even more alarmed to hear most of the class agree with him.
This alarm didn't last long, as I quickly realized how limited resources in low-income schools can be and how this severely limits the experiences students have in science and math.
Since, then I've made it my mission to make science more fun and interactive for them and I'm still at the same school, 7 years later doing just that!
My students come from a mixture of backgrounds and academic abilities but a vast majority are familiar with some sort of economic disadvantage. 90% of the students at my school receive free or reduced-price lunch and virtually all of my students are minorities living in an area where the average income is just above the poverty line.
Nevertheless, my students are bright, curious, and resilient. They each have a hunger to learn and experience science in an interactive way - a hunger that deserves to be fed.
My Project
The microscope is one of the most important inventions ever created. It allows scientists to learn about microbes that can help us and ones that hurt us. Doctors are better able to diagnose and treat diseases. And - maybe most importantly -because of microscopes, we have an ever-growing understanding of how our own bodies and cells function.
For too long, biology students at our school have been forced to do without the incredible experience of peering through a microscope for the first time.
Our shelves are filled with outdated, broken and non-functional microscopes so we usually resort to videos or paper activities versus the real thing. Occurrences like these are so common in low-income schools like the one in which I teach, where students must often learn and experience science with lower quality equipment or no equipment at all! This really robs students of a true, authentic chance to become excited about science and the microscopic world, and maybe even being curious enough to pursue a career in science one day.
Dissections and microscopes are the two most memorable experiences in a biology classroom - many people report remembering these two classes for the rest of their lives! Help students at Miami enjoy this unforgettable experience for years to come!
More than half 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
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Ms. King and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
{"pmaHash":"","showProjectRecommendations":true,"leadGenEnabled":true,"hideTeacherDetails":false,"schoolState":"FL","teacherPossessivePronoun":"her","PMsManager":null,"schoolGradeType":{"id":4,"name":"High School"},"TeacherPMForms":{},"completingDonationAmount":0,"teacherHasClassroomPhoto":true,"proposalURL":"https://www.donorschoose.org/project/help-inner-city-teens-discover-the-invis/5726105/","mayHaveReplacements":false,"numStudents":150,"isEquityFocusV1":true,"teacherScreenName":"Ms. King","isEquityFocus":true,"proposalHash":"958663212","isApplePayMobileOnly":true,"progressBarPercentage":100.00,"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":false,"photosPublished":false,"queryString":"","DonorPMForm":null,"shouldTrackEquityFocusV2":true,"schoolCity":"Miami","teachersOnPage":[3644956],"isTeacherViewingTheirOwnProject":false,"minimizedLeadGenEnabled":true,"proposalId":5726105,"proposalMessageFormModel":null,"numActiveProjects":0,"verifyShowPhotos":"","eligibleToBeCopied":false,"schoolId":45761,"schoolName":"Miami Central Senior High School","authorIds":{"3644956":{"owner":"Ms. King","donationSalutations":{}}},"displayedPercentFunded":1.0,"proposalsOnPage":[5726105],"pmaId":"","teacherProfilePhotoURL":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp3644956_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1628963675090","teacherHasProfilePhoto":true,"currentWorkflowStatusCode":21,"teacherChallengeId":20808417,"isApplePayEnabled":true,"fundedByTarget":false,"activeProject":null,"donorIdsForImpactPhotoCheck":[],"teacherId":3644956,"schoolCounty":"Miami-Dade","fullyFunded":true,"isStudentLed":false,"isExpired":true,"schoolStateObj":{"code":"FL","name":"Florida"}}
