Please Provide Our Lab a Giant Molecular Model Demonstration Kit
Help me give my students one giant molecular model kit to create 3-D structures for class group presentations and pre-lab lessons.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. V.'s classroom raised $457
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.
My Students
Our urban public high school is as diverse racially, culturally, and economically as our large metropolitan city.
Our student population is by majority Hispanic (70%), followed by Asian, White, Black, Pacific Islander, and various other groups.
Almost all my students classify in our state's lowest economic category, which qualifies them for financial assistance such as reduced lunch and free tutoring programs. For nearly 50% of my students, the primary language that their family speaks at home is not English. Many of our students were classified as ESL students (English as a Second Language), when they began high school, but have now been reclassified as English Proficient. Due to funding cuts, science classes at our public high school have recently increased to average sizes of 44 students per class. We are not a private school, so in order to give these young students the best college prep environment, our science lab programs truly survive from donations and grants.
My Project
Chemistry is a difficult and abstract subject to study without visual models. Unlike Biology, chemists cannot look into a microscope to study atoms and molecules the way that biologists can actually see cells - atoms and molecules are too small- TRILLIONS of times smaller than a human cell! Students in my AP Chemistry, Honors Chemistry and General Chemistry need to be able to predict and defend their answers to questions based on chemical formulas like "Which has a higher melting temperature: H2O, CO2, or AlCl3", "Which is most likely a gas at room temperature", and "Which will dissolve best in water?"
However, instead of requiring students to just memorize and restate answers to these kinds of questions, student group presentations will benefit from a class set of giant molecular models, so they can build 3-D structures that support their Lewis Diagrams and interpretations.
A giant model set will assist my class in developing their model building and visualization skills so students can correctly analyze and compare any chemical formula- like H2O, CO2, or ALCl3, O2, etc.
Perhaps you remember drawing Lewis dot diagrams in Chemistry class? With models, the students will go the next steps. They will actually build and identify the 3-D model for each chemical formula, which is necessary to predict different chemical properties, like melting temperature, solubility, etc. The pieces in the model set are specially designed according to the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Chemical Theory (VSEPR), the same theory used in college Chemistry course study. This specific set has extra large pieces, so that an entire classroom can easily see the 3-D structures.
Practicing with molecular models will help my students develop problem-solving skills that will prepare and lead them one day in college level study; possibly even into careers in Engineering and Medicine.
More than three‑quarters 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
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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 Mr. V. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
