My students need disease slides to evaluate the effects on national and international biological warfare. The incubator and animal slides will make science come alive.
My classroom is full of 8th graders willing to learn if we just had items in our classroom that pertains to their life. Our day consist of hands on activities with blocks ropes and anything out of the gym, however, they are ready for a real life problem based challenge with laboratory emphasis.
My 8th graders are technical geniuses.
You can put anything dealing with technology programming in front of them and they will master the task. However, the skills with laboratory practice seem to be lacking because of our lack of equipment pertaining to real life situations which interest them more than a PowerPoint and activity sheet. Each student is full of energy, yet struggles with their own identity. Unfortunately, most students are lacking a sense of direction and excitement due to home challenges. Our town is over populated with drop outs, drug issues and lack of work opportunities. We live in an area with very few science resources and a lack of money to take them anywhere. They are wanting a purpose and goal for their life, and I believe giving them a hands on experience in science will show them how exciting and fulfilling a STEM career can be. My students have thought of a career, have done the paperwork and now wanting to dig deeper into science.
My Project
My desire is to make a classroom of different stations, ranging from defining vocabulary through art to crime scene investigations and mastering the math challenge through hands on activities rather than worksheets. My classroom will have less emphasis on desks and sitting by a lab table and more collaboration at a conference table, lab work spaces and problem solving through a series of steps, just as STEM employees rarely sit at desks and complete just a problem with paperwork they need to experience the same. These students will take on the role of a biotechnician, learning the characteristics of viruses, bacteria and parasites relating to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease. They will discover how Geologist use techniques to identify different rock forms. They will experience life forms at all stages through animal science. Students use the clean water systems to talk about the demolishing of our Earth and how to prevent the depleting of our natural resources
Turning my classroom into a STEM career system will help in various ways.
Our community is over run with poverty, drug use and depression. The students have not discovered that there are so many opportunities in this field. They only know school as being full of meaningless memorization. My goal is to use this project to stimulate growth in this field, to bring science to life and for the students to discover a better life through the STEM career path.
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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. McDaniel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.