Help me give my students the materials they need to investigate alternative ways to grow food (hydroponics) and to reclaim the soil around our school in order to make it more suitable for growing (perma-culture using mushrooms).
$565 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! 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.
Students are natural scientists—born with a curiosity that fuels learning. Hands-on science means better engagement, deeper understanding, and greater student achievement. With many of my students having little or no experience with growing their own food, having experimental gardens readily available at our school helps make science more relevant and engaging.
My seventh and 8th grade science classes are filled with students from varied racial and economic backgrounds.
We are an inner-city public school with just over half of our students receiving free/reduced-price lunch. A lot of my students come from some pretty tough home situations. Many do not have yards, never mind gardens. Our district is continually facing tough budget years and the middle schools, in particular, take the biggest cuts.
My Project
Part of our project would include students investigating alternative methods to grow food, such as hydroponics. Using the desktop set-up as a model, they would then design and build larger outdoor structures that would allow for continuous water flow, solar-powered light sources, and geothermal heat.
Using mushrooms, students would investigate ways to reclaim the soil in our courtyards in order to make them suitable once again for growing food.
They would look into Perma-culture methods, such as using certain mushrooms that metabolize heavy metals and turn it into an inert substance.
Students would also look at redesigning our existing greenhouse and making it work better year-round. Upon completing this project, students would look at ways that these different methods might be applied in the community, both in business and residential settings.
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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 Ms. Rock-O'Hara and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
