Interactive Science: Inquiry based Investigations through Hands on Activities

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 120

              My philosophy as a teacher is that science should be taught along side of mathematics.   When students are allowed to group in numbers greater than two, then the system fosters disengagement.   It is with these two philosophical underpinnings that my grant was written.  As a stated benefit, the goal of this grant was to address a school wide need in FSA testing.   This need was to address an achievement gap in the nature of science.  One of the challenges we have had is that we are short on materials that allow students to collected data, to model data via charts or graphs, and use data to evaluate their stated hypothesis.  This is of course fundamental to the scientific process.   It should be noted that the original intent of the written grant was to spend the money in a more directed way.  However during the course of the school year inflationary  economic pressures ensured that we could no longer spend the money exactly as was intended.   This might have sunk the project however the course of this year has also seen waves of resignations amongst teachers in the field of education.   This has been especially true of science teachers and as a result I was able to use the grant funds to help us achieve the original goals of the grant purchasing up equipment from teachers leaving the field.  The readily available funds allowed us to continue to capitalize on new opportunities as they arose and I believe the original intent of the grant was in fact realized as a result.

     When you look at the original list of items, the grant could largely be divided four ways.  We will assume in this breakdown that an average classroom size is 24 students and that at all times we are referring to a ratio of "students : equipment."   The first way in which we could divide the grant was in the purchase of wind mills that when combined with existing stock would lower the classroom size from 4:1 to 3:1.   Due primarily to a doubling of price we had to go in a different direction in this grant.   The second way this grant could be divided was in the purchase of electrical circuits.   We were able to purchase three new as per the original intent of the grant and we were also able to attain two kits used at a greatly reduced price.  The used kits when combined with the parts bags were made whole into useable kits that we will now count in the ratio.  These circuits when combined with existing equipment brought the classroom to student ration from 4:1 to 2:1.  The third way in which this grant could be divided was into the acquisition of gas pressure detecting equipment.  Per the original grant we wanted to order six kits.   Due to inflationary pressure the cost of such kits became unreasonable.  However we were able to purchase the exact same kits from ebay from a teacher leaving the field at a fraction of the cost  and instead of acquiring 5 we were able to acquire 12 units.  As a result we now have a 2:1 ratio of gas pressure detection kits.  The fourth aspect of this grant was in data collection.  We originally wanted  two data collectors however the price of the collector doubled.  We were only able to acquire one data collector new.  However, we were able to acquire one data collector from an exiting teacher so the original number was realized.  This lowered our ratio to 2:1. 

     It should be noted that we were presented with opportunities that we didn't expect to have presented to us.   In an acquisition from an exiting teacher we were able to purchase 10 sets of swings and springs.  The swings and springs were in very rough shape with numerous pieces missing from each set.  Some of the equipment was damaged beyond saving.   By cannibalizing parts, purchasing 3d printing equipment  and using existing modeling software as well as contacting the spring manufacturer we were able to recreate the missing parts and save 9 of the ten sets for immediate usage in the coming school year.  This will allow us to craft lessons in scientific inquiry that also teach hook's law to students.  

     The result of this grant is the acquisition of equipment that not only have allowed us to lower student to equipment ratios but we have also began to create new labs that will be tested in the conclusion of the year as we study for the FSA.  We will be testing out labs that will remind students of the scientific method, will allow students to model data, and will provide each with the opportunity to read meaning from the data they collect.  This would not have been possible without the grant from Champions for Learning.   This grant allowed us to be in the right place at the right time to capitalize on opportunities that offered us a way around inflationary pressures that could have caused the original intent of the grant to have failed before even a single piece of equipment was ordered.   Because of this grant we now have options at Immokalee Middle School that will be available year after year.  While some pieces of equipment may break, the spare parts bags and the excess parts we received from exiting teachers will allow us to work around many breakage issues we could face during the course of the years to come before needing to replace any single piece of equipment.   I expect in the coming years these activities to be both the opening and the summation review of our preparation for the FSA Science section and the activities crafted will be designed to give students hands on experiences with concepts they will be tested upon in the future.  Thank you for making this possible.

Addendum:   The excess 3d printing equipment that was purchased both from DN3 and Amazon with funds from Champions For Learning will be used in the 3d printing afterschool club at the school.  Excess PLA+ purchased will also be brought for the use of students at the school.  The ALEXA dot that was purchased from Amazon was not tallied in the receipts presented for this grant.  Sadly Amazon does not offer me a way of removing it as it was ordered at the same time.  Pictures of original pieces and reverse engineered 3d pieces that were missing from the Swings and Springs sets will be submitted to Amy Snyder of Champions for Learning as evidence of PLA+ purchase and successful reverse engineering for missing pieces.  This expenditure was approved by the grant foundation prior to purchase.