Gene Expression DonorsChoose

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Thank you for helping us purchase new microscopes for our classroom. It has been amazing to watch the students use the new equipment to get an up-close look at cells and various organisms. One of the most exciting days was the day students were able to actually see the stages of mitosis within a cell (which they had only previously seen in a book) for themselves. For many students this was an "ah-ha" moment in discovering that with the power of a microscope they could see the "unseen" world that functions in their very own bodies every second of every day.

The science department functions on a $2000 per year budget for all supplies and materials. I am sure you can imagine that that amount is nowhere near enough to cover the cost of new microscopes. So, without your help our students would still be stuck in the dark ages! Thank you again for bringing them further into the world of real science.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Hitchcock

Thank you so much for donating to my project! Thanks to your generosity, my students were the recipients of sphygmomanometers to help us study heart health. The AP Biology students were able to work in pairs to complete one of the twelve mandatory AP labs and practice taking each others blood pressure. With the electronic blood pressure monitors they were able to compare the blood pressure they measured manually with the electric blood pressure read out to see how close the numbers were.

I also created a lab for my freshmen Biology classes that allowed these students to use this valuable tool to find their blood pressures as well. Having these tools available allowed me to have an important conversation with my students about the importance of physical fitness and how regular exercise helps strengthen the heart and allows the heart to pump blood more efficiently.

These blood pressure cuffs will be used by countless students in the future and are a valuable resource for my classroom. I cannot express enough how grateful I am for your generosity. May you all be blessed for your kindness.

”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Garcia

Thank you so much for the gel electrophoresis kit. Sorry for taking so long, by the time we got the materials we were past our unit on genetics. I will be conducting it soon and my students are really looking forward to it! After doing our CSI lab they have really wanted to get into DNA fingerprinting to understand more complex forensic tools.

Your donation is greatly appreciated, and will allow my honors students to go beyond the curriculum and really engage in science. I'm sure this will get many of them inspired to pursue science careers. You are making a difference!”

With gratitude,

Mr. Hauser

Dear Donor,

This is just a small token of my gratitude for your generous donation to my classroom. The frog specimens that you donated will help my students learn and study the human body system. Students are excited about dissecting every year and it helps keep them going through May. We haven't dissected yet because of state testing. The dissections will be used to support my students, which are largely English language learners. This life-long memory will help them have fond remembrances of Biology class.

Our school continues to face a budget shortfall, so without your help, my students would never get to have this experience. For beginning language students in high school, this is one of the most important experiences in Biology.

Without donors like you, thousands of classrooms in the United States would go without. ”

With gratitude,

Ms. McDaniel

Thank you all so much for your donations and support in funding my project. It is so rewarding to know that teachers still have support from outside sources. I know I am a better teacher for doing projects with my children that without your help, I would not have been able to do.

My students have benefited so much from this project. The students really loved uncovering DNA, to find out "who done it". They also enjoyed the process of identifying different inherited genes and traits. We were also able to unravel several evolutionary theories with the help of these labs. The labs you helped fund were not only fun, but they also helped my students sharpen and fine tune their critical thinking skills and were great guided inquiry.

Again, I cannot express how thankful I am for your help. Please know that you donations were greatly appreciated by myself, my students, and our school. ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Davis

Thank you very much for your generous donations towards Genetics of Fruit Flies project. The students really enjoyed learning the life cycle of fruit flies and how eye color is passed down from one generation to the next generation. This project allowed students to study and collect data for several weeks which many students never get the chance to do long term science experiments.

Students made predictions about how the eye color is passed down by making a cross based on whether eye color is an autosomal or x-linked trait. After the first generation students were able to see a pattern emerging and many changed their original ideas about how eye color in fruit flies is passed down. At the end of the project all the students understood that eye color is an x-linked trait.

Thank you very much for your generous donation. The students not only enjoyed the lab, but it also helped them understand the key concepts much better. ”

With gratitude,

Mr. K.

Thank you so much for giving my students the opportunity to do hands-on, cutting-edge science in my classroom. We just successfully completed the experiments using RNAi (RNA interference) to shut off two genes in C. Elegans (a microscopic nematode). The students not only learned to study and manipulate this classical genetic model organism, but they explored a function of RNA that is a "hot" area of research right now. Following the laboratory experiment, students used online scientific databases (wormbase and BLAST) to see what scientists have discovered about the two genes that were silenced during the experiment, in order to correlate what they saw in the worms with the functions of similar genes in humans. Engaging science, real research methods, and an introduction to bioinformatics- I could not have exposed my students to any of these without your generous donation. Thank you!”

With gratitude,

Ms. O'Brien

Thank you so much for believing in investing in my classroom but more importantly in my students. With your donations, I was able to buy a few sets of fruit fly packaged experiments. We received fruit flies with regular wings (wild type) and fruit flies with small wings (apterous). We bred the fruit flies separately and when the females were hatched from their larva, we quickly separated them from the males. Then we took apterous females and bred them with wild type males to see what their offspring would look like.

Students made Punnett squares, studied X-linked genes, and predicted the phenotype (wings or no wings) of the new generation. We incorporated this experience in our unit about genetics. We studied Hemophilia in the old Russian royal family and students explained why it appeared that only men received the disease. We related this project with the fruit flies to hemophilia by discussing X-linked genes.

However, we unfortunately ran into a few problems. The fruit flies took longer than expected to "hatch." In fact, both new generations hatched while on Thanksgiving break and Winter break, so we could never separate the offspring from the parents. Therefore we had difficulties collecting data to compare our predictions with. Regardless of these glitches, this has been a highlight to many students' year so far. They've enjoyed working with bugs, learning that simply by looking at a fruit fly, you can identify its sex and its wing type. What I am most excited about though, was that we incorporated the fruit flies into a Parent Science night. Students brought parents to discuss different aspects of Biology they've learned so far. The fruit flies were a hit, as you can see in one of the pictures. In addition to the fruit flies, students discussed DNA transcription and translation, homology, and evolution.

Again, I would like to express my appreciation for your financial support. Your generosity was a huge help. Currently our science department has $0 for our budget, so your support was necessary. It not only communicates that you believe in my students and I, but it also encourages me to continue pouring my heart and soul into these young lives as well. ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Morris