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This teacher needs your help!

Mr. Chau from Chicago, IL is requesting technology through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mr. Chau is requesting

Nano Biotopes: 7 Micro-Environments in 7 Fish Tanks

My students need auto top-off systems for their nano biotopes, including sensors, water pumps, and airline tubing.

  • $776 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Mr. Chau has another project! Donate to Aquarium Club Upgrades to help his classroom.

$298 - complete this project and be a hero
Help Mr. Chau

Mr. Chau has another project! Donate to Aquarium Club Upgrades to help his classroom.

$298 - complete this project and be a hero

My Students

Most students in my nano biotope seminar have never had to care for a living thing, let alone a living biotope with region-specific flora and fauna. On a typical day, the students participate in half a dozen activities that they have never experienced before.

My students are incredibly bright and motivated and attend an excellent school in Chicago.

When they signed up for my year-long seminar, they committed to caring for nano biotopes enclosed in 10-gallon aquariums that would require precise and informed care for the entire school year. While other students are enjoying their lunch breaks, these students are in the classroom feeding fish, trimming plants, changing water, and performing a number of maintenance chore. Besides the day-to-day maintenance of their biotopes, my students are also in charge of researching their assigned biotopes and educating their peers about the animals and plants that live int heir aquatic biotopes.

My Project

We are a Chicago Public School, so we have a very limited budget for this seminar. While students are enthusiastic about topping off the aquariums during the school year and feel a certain pride in maintaining their biotopes, we cannot do this over long school breaks. The auto top-off systems will ensure that the aquarium levels will not drop to a point where the filters and heaters are running dry. These aquarium systems are being used to teach the students about micro-environments--also known as biotopes--that require specific water conditions, light, and food sources. We have a Caribbean reef with live rock and corals, a Hawaiian volcano tide pool, a mangrove swamp, and other unique biotopes.

Contributing to this seminar will help my students continue to explore ecology, water chemistry, aquaculture, and botany.

My students will be able to see concepts they are learning about in AP Environmental Science and AP Biology played out in their biotopes. Most important is that my students will learn responsibility and compassion for living things while also enhancing their science education.

Mr. Chau Walter Payton College Preparatory High School Grades 9-12

More about Mr. Chau

Chicago, IL View local requests

More than half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

24 students impacted 13donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Hydor Auto-Top-Off Controller for All Sizes of Marine and Freshwater Aquariums • Amazon $59.55 7 $416.85
TOM Aquarium Aqua Lifter Pump 3.5gph flow rate to 30 inches height • Amazon $15.99 7 $111.93
TOM Aquarium Aqua Lifter Pump Holder • Amazon $8.99 7 $62.93
Lee's Airline Tubing for Aquarium, 25-Foot, Standard • Amazon $7.29 3 $21.87
Lee's Tubing for Aquarium Pump, 0.18-Inches x 3-Feet • Amazon $2.11 3 $6.33

Materials cost

$619.91

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$9.30

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$659.21

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$116.33

Total project goal

$775.54

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $775.54

10 Donors

-$242.76

Donations toward project cost

-$206.35

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$36.41

Matching donations from our partners

-$532.78

Match offers toward project cost

-$452.86

Match offers to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$79.92

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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 Mr. Chau and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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