Donors Choose: Help Make Kids Adorers of the Good Science of Rock-Breaking

I want you all to take especial note of the Donors Choose widget in the sidebar. We have the opportunity to make a difference in kids’ lives, right here, right now. We can place science in their hands. As you may have gathered from my previous post, this is something I passionately believe must be done.

I’ve chosen out four projects having to do with geology. I want to get those rocks into those kids’ classrooms. I don’t think there’s any better way to give them an early adoration for the sciences than giving them a chance to do science for themselves. None of these projects need much money, but those few dollars could mean the difference between kids who fall in love with science early and never learning how much there is to love.

Project 1: Women and Hands-on Science.

This is a high-poverty, all-girls school in New York City that needs funds for science supplies, including a mineral kit and geology videos. For those of us who have wanted to see more women in STEM, I think this is an excellent place to start. Let’s get those girls some equipment! Amount needed as of this writing: $230.

Project 2: Science Rocks!

This is a moderate-poverty class in Gig Harbor, WA, whose budget suffered from cuts. They’re needing rock samples and hydrochloric acid, safety equipment, and a few other things in order to test chemical and physical weathering. I would’ve killed for a chance to bust out the hydrochloric acid as a kid! Let’s not make them go that far. Amount needed as of this writing: $469.

Project 3: Geology Rocks!

This high-poverty charter school in Baltimore, MD is looking for sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock samples. Ms. Blake is looking to inspire a future geologist. Let’s make sure she can do just that. Amount needed as of this writing: $115.

Project #4: Rock Out: Learning About Rocks, Minerals and Geology.

This moderate-poverty class in Renton, WA, is looking for kits and literature for geology. And this is a teacher who’s not afraid to go above-and-beyond the grade level guidelines. This tells me she’s the kind of teacher who will cheer her students on rather than rein them in. She wants to inspire the next generation of seismographers, geologists, and gemologists. Let’s do this thing. Amount needed as of this writing: $291.

These amounts are paltry. We can get them there, people.

Every blogger on Freethought Blogs is participating. All of the projects they’ve chosen are worthy of support. So if nothing here catches your fancy, go peruse theirs. Make a difference in a child’s life. Give them science. Because, my darlings, when you do that, you are giving us all a future.

Oh, and incidentally, I want to show the Scientific American folks that Freethought Bloggers has a readership that can kick their readerships’ arses. I have faith in you, my darlings!

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Donors Choose: Help Make Kids Adorers of the Good Science of Rock-Breaking
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6 thoughts on “Donors Choose: Help Make Kids Adorers of the Good Science of Rock-Breaking

  1. 1

    Dana, found your blog through the freethought blogs by the other folks. As a gal with a geology degree (not much help in the long run, though I did work 5 years in the field before losing my job)and someone who likes to fiddle around with writing,I’m enjoying it immensely. I saw the donor’s choose thing and am rather embarassed that I never thought to do this. I’m pleased that life and hard work has allowed me to fulfill the #3 project. WA does have lurvely geology, was out there two years ago in Seattle and on Mt. Rainier. My state, PA has pretty nifty stuff too, though not quite as explosive :)

  2. 4

    Done. Fulfilled #1 project. Back in the Pleistocene, I went to an all-girls (Catholic) high school that wasn’t well-funded for science, and a lot of would-be scientists took one class and switched to an emphasis in the humanities, because there was so little hands-on stuff. So I had a natural inclination to remedy that in the project #1 school.

    Young women, in particular, should be encouraged to study STEM fields if they’re so inclined, and shouldn’t enter college at a disadvantage relative to their male classmates. With more women in those fields, the sexism I saw in my years as an engineer would be lessened. (I have to note there seems to be far less sexism in geology than in engineering, and it’s the engineering that needs fixing!)

  3. 5

    Oh, and Dana, I’ve said this before, but you really should pursue a degree in geology. It would be a breeze for you, and your day job might just get a lot more interesting…
    Karen

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