DonorsChoose--week 2

I've been remiss at soliciting more funding for the Scienceblogs DonorsChoose challenge. All told, Sciencebloggers have raised over $12,000 total so far to fund teacher-initiated, citizen-funded projects--$175 of that from here at Aetiology thus far, so I have a bit of catching up to do. I know you're all busy people, so I'll save you a few mouse clicks and over the next few days, describe a few of the challenges on my roster this year:

We have to see it to believe it!

Needs: $286 (34% funded)
Asking for: 10 microscopes and slides for a class of 7th graders (district is 88% low income).

This will allow me to set up labs designed around our content standards, from human body cells to plant cells, my students will be able to finally see the tiny, overlooked world around them.

Help my students see the world through their own set of rose colored lenses - brand new microscopes!

Hidden worlds: up close and personal

Needs: $610 (18% funded)
Asking for: One video microscope to be shared by all students in the class (11th graders, district is 40% low income)

During the 2006-2007 school year my class did dozens of labs ranging from testing alcohol's affect on fruit flies to genetically modifying bacteria with a jellyfish gene that caused the bacteria to glow green when exposed to UV light. Despite these exciting labs the one area I was not able to give my students exposure to seeing organisms under a microscope since I do not have the microscopes available. Having a videoflex scope would allow me to project an image under my microscope to the whole class thus accomplishing a major goal of mine.

Both of these teachers are obviously having an impact with the little equipment and funding that they have. Fully funding these projects would have an impact on 195 current students, and the addition of microscopes will allow students to investigate the "invisible" for many years to come. Please consider kicking in some cash for these challenges or others listed at the link, even if it's only $10 or $20--one beauty of this challenge is how much these small donations add up.