I teach Science and an elective Aerospace course at a rural middle school in western Washington. My school serves children from grades 6-8.
Our school district has faced major budget cuts this past year. Although our district is committed to math and science excellence and to the NASA Explorer School program, science funding is a major issue. Students excel when they are engaged in hands-on activities as opposed to paper and pencil work. Understanding the forces that shape weather and climate is a difficult concept for students (and adults). Students need to work with hands-on activities in order to fully comprehend the factors that influence our home planet. In addition, once they fully understand the weather on our home planet, they can hypothesize weather and climate on other planets.
As a NASA Explorer School, we have the perfect avenue in which to engage students in math, engineering, and science. Students are naturally inquisitive about science and tapping into this curiosity will capitalize on a middle school student's natural curiosity. My students will participate in the JASON program, which was founded by Dr. Robert Ballard (who discovered the Titanic) as a way to involve kids in meaningful science investigations. We will embark on the hands-on program “Monster Storms”. Although we have the curriculum, we need the supplies for the wonderful student investigations that are critical to the JASON program.
Hands-on lab activities provide a multifaceted approach to learning! Students will investigate weather processes, learn to use weather instruments to gather data, and analyze their data to gain a more complete understanding of the weather and climate on Earth. Students will also extend their understanding to other planets.
You can help to fund a project that will tap into natural curiosity and empower students to reach above and beyond! Our NASA Explorer School mission of "Earth, Moon, Mars, and Beyond" aligns with high-level critical thinking and application skills that are embedded in this project. Students will achieve a new level of understanding and application as they become the next generation of explorers!
More than a third 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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