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This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. Borders from Lakebay, WA is requesting supplies through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mrs. Borders is requesting

Shoot For the Stars: An Analysis of Far Away Galaxies

My students need a spectral analysis kit, gas tubes, and a stars lab kit.

  • $1,165 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

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Help Mrs. Borders

I teach Science and an elective Aerospace course at a rural middle school in western Washington that serves students in grades 6-8.

Our school district has faced major budget cuts this past year. Although our district is committed to math and science excellence, science funding is a major issue. Students excel when they are engaged in hands-on activities as opposed to paper and pencil work. The electromagnetic spectrum and stellar spectroscopy are a difficult concepts (and much less engaging) to teach with bookwork or paper and pencil lessons. I find that students achieve at a much higher level when they are able to work with, manipulate, and analyze real data.

Students will become electromagnetic detectives as they examine the “fingerprints” from various electromagnetic sources. They will use the the spectral analysis kit to analyze the absorption/emission lines from various elements. Each element has unique absorption lines that appear in the spectrum from that element. Scientists and astronomers use this unique “fingerprint” to identify the elements that make up stars and galaxies that are many light years away from Earth. Students can do the same thing! The students will use their spectrometers to analyze gas filled spectrum tubes different elements and will map each absorption spectrum. As students compare and contrast their data to known data, the students can identify the elements. This takes spectral analysis for middle school students to an incredible level of critical thinking and mathematical analysis. As the student are investigating in the same way that astronomers and scientists do, the student understanding increases by leaps and bounds.

You can help fund a project that uses hands-on activities to teach a concept that has traditionally been taught by “seat-work”, lecture, and videos. In making electromagnetic processes come alive for students, they not only retain the knowledge, but can use hands-on activities to manipulate and solve problems. Your support of this innovative project will also allow students to use their knowledge of processes here on Earth and our sun to predict processes and the chemical make up of stars and far away galaxies . As a NASA Explorer School, we pay particular attention to NASA’s mission of “Earth, Moon, Mars, and Beyond.” Our students will be the ones that will continue the study other of stars, planets, and galaxies.

Mrs. Borders Key Peninsula Middle School Grades 6-8

More about Mrs. Borders

Lakebay, WA View local requests

More than a third 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

150 students impacted 32donors

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Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Mrs. Borders is requesting.

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
VHS - ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES • Sargent Welch $44.09 1 $44.09
STARS OUTER SPACE VIDEOLAB DVD • Carolina Biological Supply Company $228.00 1 $228.00
SPECTRUM TUBE - KRYPTON • Sargent Welch $28.80 1 $28.80
SPECTRUM TUBE - IODINE • Sargent Welch $28.80 1 $28.80
SPECTRUM TUBE - ARGON • Sargent Welch $28.80 1 $28.80
SPECTRUM TUBE - OXYGEN • Sargent Welch $28.80 1 $28.80
SPECTRUM TUBE - NEON • Sargent Welch $28.80 1 $28.80
SPECTRUM TUBE ANALYSIS KIT • Sargent Welch $331.99 1 $331.99
SPECTRUM TUBE - CHLORINE • Sargent Welch $40.50 1 $40.50

Materials cost

$788.58

Vendor shipping charges

 $78.86

Sales tax

 $51.26

3rd party payment processing fee

$19.71

Fulfillment labor & materials

$17.00

Total project cost

$955.00

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$209.63

Total project goal

$1,164.63

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $1,164.63

31 Donors

-$1,120.00

Donations toward project cost

-$955.00

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$165.00

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$44.63

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 Mrs. Borders and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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