"We get to play with magnets, wow!" That's the response I got recently when I pulled my energy kits out to explain the flow of electric current and transfer of energy. The trouble is, we didn't have enough to go around. We need magnets, energy kits, and stop watches.
We are a small school, in rural Arkansas, with very little funding.
Our school focuses mostly on reading, writing and mathematics until fifth grade, then suddenly we are hit with testing in science. My students come into my room with very few science concepts. I need equipment for hands on experiences, that will do much more to help them learn than just books or classroom demonstrations.
My Project
We do a unit on electric current each year. I need magnets to help me explain the flow of electric current, since magnets are the main components in electric power. I would also like to show them how to find average speed by timing moving objects and measuring the distance traveled, as well as how energy is transferred from one moving object to another. Energy conservation is a big topic these days. Energy kits would help show the students how energy is produced.
Understanding energy transfer and conservation in an important concept that our students need to learn.
Being a small school, we do not have many of the advantages, such as a real science lab, that larger schools have. We need more hands on equipment so that the students have an equal chance to learn. I feel this will help our students on the science benchmarks.
More than half 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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