My students need 15 Impact Cars, 1 Balanced Balls device, 1 Projectile Launcher, 1 Ballistics Pendulum, and 1 Harmonic Motion Airtrack for their science labs.
I teach seventh and eighth grade science. Our school is a high-poverty, high-need school. My classroom is the former art room, and has very little supplies for science.
Our school was hit by three hurricanes in the summer of 2004. The science wing was heavily damaged and all of our science equipment was either destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Our school does not have the funds available to restock the science rooms. My students are required to take the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test during eighth grade. The Science part is based on the Florida Sunshine Standards. One of the strands of the Sunshine Standards is the scientific method and having the students do labs. Another one of the strands requires students to learn topics such as force and motion, and energy/energy conversions. I have been teaching science for twenty one years. I truly believe that middle school students learn science best by performing hands-on experiments.
The fifteen Impact Cars will allow my students to work in pairs to study velocity, acceleration, and increasing forces. They learn metrics by working with masses. The Newton's Cradle Balanced Balls makes for a great demonstration of "every action has an equal but opposite reaction". The Projectile Launcher can measure velocity of balls shot out of it at any angle from 0-90 degrees. It will help students measure angles very accurately, to fractions of a degree. Students will be able to measure trajectories of the balls.
The Ballistics Pendulum demonstrates conservation of momentum, and movements of a pendulum. Students can calculate amounts of kinetic energy and the projectile's initial velocity. The Harmonic Motion Air Track allows students to study harmonic motion and relationships between vibration and mass. It demonstrates conversion between kinetic and potential energy and the effects of air friction or oscillation.
Your support of this proposal will help my students to get the equipment that is needed to help them successfully learn these areas of physical science. My students get very enthused when they are allowed to work with quality precision equipment. This will also get them ready for the more advanced labs in high school, which is just a year or two away. I want to thank you for your support for my sudents' education.
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