My class involves hands-on science. My mission is to provide hands-on experiences but allow students to be outdoors and take ownership in their learning. Biggest challenge-experiencing hands-on activities with force, motion, and simple machines while being outdoors. Students learn by observing and doing!
My students are very educated and in a well-established community.
The biggest struggle my students have in the beginning is taking part in being in the outdoors and appreciating the outdoors. Looking at standardized science data for previous years, I realized that my lowest scores were always with force and motion and simple machines. Some of my best test scores are always connected to hands-on experiences. Due to this evidence, I would like to involve my students with a hands-on experience with these lower achieving concepts of simple machines and force and motion. Do my test scores improve with force and motion and simple machines when students are making hands on connection?
My Project
My students need Science in a Tree to visit our school, set up the trees and help teach the lesson. Students will benefit by being outdoors and using our trees to their full potential. They will learn about simple machines when using pulleys and harnesses to climb the tree.
The program I am choosing involves students measuring the mass of different items and predicting which item will hit the ground due to gravity. Students will look at the question, Does mass affect how quickly and item falls? They will use math skills and formulas to realize force and motion. This will give my students a chance to make predictions and master STEM concepts which is our most recent push at our school the last couple years.
Using the philosophy Smarter, Together, Science in a Tree and Chesterfield can come together to meet the needs of teaching force and motion and simple machines outdoors with a hands on connection. This project will change my students' lives by getting outdoors and experiencing science.
Currently, our school has an outdoor classroom that is rarely utilized by other grade levels.
Once these students see my 5th graders out using the trees and the outdoor classroom, I hope that it encourages others to come join. Finally, once Science in a Tree has established the tree, for future visits they will come to our campus for a smaller cost and will just charge for the lesson.
Dean Eckhoff
(THIS IS AN ON-CAMPUS CLIMBING PROGRAM FOR K-12 STUDENTS CALLED SCIENCE IN A TREE. IT IS A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF RECREATIONAL TREE CLIMBING, OUTDOOR ADVENTURE LEARNING, AND HANDS-ON SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS. THEIR MOTTO IS CLIMB A TREE AND LEARN COOL SCIENCE! HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: 1. THEY SETUP ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL TREES ON CHESTERFIELD’S CAMPUS WITH SUPER-SAFE ROPE & HARNESS CLIMBING SYSTEM. 2. THE SECOND PARTS INVOLVES STUDENTS LEARNING HOW TO CLIMB TREE TO THEN COMPLETE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS.)
$1,000.00
Visitor cost
$1,000.00
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$0.00
3rd party payment processing fee
$15.00
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$1,045.00
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$184.41
Total project goal
$1,229.41
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$1,229.41
1 Donor
-$1,229.41
Donations toward project cost
-$1,045.00
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Mrs. Vitale and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
