Past projects 8
Digital Scales Needed for Labs!
Funded May 5, 2020Wow! Amid the craziness of distance learning and the Covid-19 pandemic, getting this project was a bit of joy. I am so looking forward to when I am back in the classroom with my students and we get to have hands-on lab instruction. These scales will be invaluable once we start looking at rates of chemical reactions, titrations, and more.
As a public school teacher facing even more budget cuts in the coming year, it breaks my heart to see my students who want to get their hands wet in the lab not have proper equipment. Over the years it has been through the generosity of people like you that we are able to keep our lab running.
Thank you, thank you. On this Teacher Appreciate Week, I feel so lucky and so appreciated. Hope you are safe and well!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 13 other donors.Class Supplies for Computer Science Class
Funded Aug 13, 2019I was initially really nervous all summer about teaching this new course Exploring Computer Science. Not only because I was new to this content but also because the curriculum called for a ton of collaborative group work and many hands-on projects. I was worried not only about my ability to convey the material to my amazing students, all of whom are literally giving up their lunch period for this course, but also about needing to pay for many of these supplies out of pocket in order to be able to make the curriculum come alive.
I was so thankful that this entire project got funded so quickly. Nearly every class in Computer Science uses our white boards and markers for group work. We use post-its to make comments on our work and the legos to visualize abstract concepts. I have never seen my students so joyful even in a hot computer lab in October while their classmates are enjoying recess. In the pictures above, we are working on several projects including a task asking students what they think a computer is, a project on internet privacy and security, and a project on how different representations of data can give you incomplete pictures.
Out next unit will be on HTML and web development. My students will be using these supplies to storyboard their website before development. They will be working on a culture tree to represent their own individual cultures. Next we will move into programming where these tools will be used to represent mathematical concepts in action before taking to the code. I hope this course really empowers and educates my students as they are all Seniors going off to college next year.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.IB Biology Seniors Need Lab Supplies
Funded Nov 12, 2018I am sitting in my lab today, Monday, December 17th, with 34 of our Seniors who are all collecting data for their Senior lab internal assessment for the IB diploma. All week, we will be running these full day labs almost like a field trip where students will spend eight hours straight focusing on their experiments. If I were a more eloquent writer, I would try to capture the excitement in the lab right now; the joy that comes with collecting data for an experiment you have researched and designed all on your own. They are buzzing with energy and racing against the clock to get their results. 34 different, unique, personalized experiments are being done right now and every single student in here has the supplies they need to perform them. None of this would have been made possible without you. Your agar plates went to an experiment looking at the anti-bacterial effects of essential oils (see in the pictures). Your enzymes went to multiple experiments examining enzyme kinetics - breaking down fats, proteins and starches. Your chromatography supplies went to examining various pigments used in photosynthesis. Your supplies will continue to be used all week, not only in our Biology courses but also for our IB Chemistry elective.
I can not express how thankful I am for your support. It would have broken my heart and disappointed my students if I had to tell them to change their experiment because we did not have the materials. Luckily, we did not have to.
Enjoy your holidays and have a great new year! Let's hope 2019 is a great year for all!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
IB Chemistry Students Need Titration Equipment
Funded Jun 22, 2018This project has dramatically improved the quality of the labs we can conduct in both IB Biology and IB Chemistry. Burettes are very fragile and we were down to only a few left, meaning that students had to huddle in groups of 10 or more in order to perform titrations. Now, students are able to work in smaller groups investigating the acidity or alkalinity of various substances. We also have enough burettes to support the Seniors' final lab investigation, a final project of their own choosing where they design and carry out an experiment entirely on their own.
It is always a challenge running a lab in an urban school where finances are tight and your generosity have made this year very special.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
IB Scientists Need Advanced Equipment
Funded Jan 25, 2018I can't begin to thank you enough for your generous donation of the UV-Vis to our school. Without your help, we would have never had the funds to get this equipment that is already changing our students' lives.
Currently, in Sophomore Regents Chemistry, students are using the machine in lab to learn Beer's law and correlate the absorbance of light to the concentration of the solutions that they are making. In IB Biology, we are looking at the difference in absorbance between chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. Next year, when I teach IB Chemistry again, I plan on changing a lab looking at the kinetics of reaction between copper sulfate and silver nitrate to measure absorbance over time in addition to measuring the volume of gas produced between acid and metal over time to show students that there are multiple ways to measure rates of reactions.
Furthermore, it is amazing to bring these real lab tools to our community. When we first started using it with some of our Seniors, they remarked that we just keep making our lab program better and better just as they are about to graduate. Even this year, in order to try to give our Seniors in Biology an opportunity to see PCR in action, we had to rent machines because we could not afford them and then in the limited time frame of the rental not all the sections were able to use the equipment. I want my students to go into college feeling like they have had every opportunity afforded their peers at the most elite private schools. My student, my "kids" as I call them, work so hard and deserve to have every success in life.
Thank you again.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 3 other donors.Bringing Computer Science To Brooklyn Latin
Funded Jan 6, 2018Thank you so much for your generosity funding this project. We have begun to use our Arduios this year in our after-school computer science club! In the attached photos, you can see the students coding and engaging with the equipment to make various circuits and movements. They are finally seeing the connection between coding and physically manipulating equipment around them. It was incredible to see their excitement when they finally saw the results of their code in action!
Going forward, we are going to be incorporating arduinos into our Conceptual Physics course and IB Biology course as part of the CS4All initiative in New York City, an ambitious program to bring the aspects and benefits of learning computer science to ALL students. In addition, I am taking a course in the Spring to learn more about these tools in order to better instruct our students.
Thank you so much for your assistance! Without your support, none of this would be possible!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
IB Students Need Video Equipment For Sharing Experimental Results
Funded Dec 31, 2017Thank you so much for your assistance with this project. We have already begun using the video camera in the classroom and the lab in a variety of ways. First and foremost, we are using the video to record student presentations and review sessions for inclusion on my Google classroom. In IB Biology and IB Chemistry, students are all tasked with specific objectives in the curriculum and are able to use their creativity to make videos for their peers to review that content. It is a fun and engaging way to share ideas with the class. Second, because of the high quality of this camera, we are able to record experiments happening in the lab in detail. This not only assists students who are absent but also helps students refer back to the lab and get that visual reminder of what they did long after the experiment has passed. Finally, the teachers at my school are using it to facilitate intervisitation in order to further their practice. Watching a lesson together with an observer on video where you can objectively see teacher and student response is a powerful way to receive feedback and improve instruction without the any bias on behalf of the observer or instructor.
Again, my sincere gratitude for your generosity. I could not be able to bring these powerful tools into the classroom without your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
Help Students Complete Mandatory Labs!
Funded Sep 28, 2017Thank you so much for your generosity. Our pH probes arrived a few weeks ago but we were finally able to use them in the lab in our IB Chemistry HL Year 2 class this week as we finished our unit on acids and bases. In the classrooms last week, we learned about titration pH curves between weak and strong acids. In the lab this week, we were able to perform these titration experiments and actually see the pH curves live on the software using the probes. Science became real to the students! It was amazing to see the connections they made between the content and experiment. We then used those curves to perform calculations. No more were the calculations esoteric numbers found in the textbook but numbers they had collected. Many of these students are also using the probes for their Senior year internal assessment lab - the individual investigation required by the IB. The probes will allow them to collect more accurate data and perform more complex calculations and increase their chances of getting a high score on the labs.
I appreciate all your support of STEM in the classroom for even our neediest students. I feel confident I am sending my students off to college with the lab skills necessary to compete and do well. Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Capasso
This classroom project was brought to life by Con Edison and 9 other donors.