Since 2006, science bloggers have been working with DonorsChoose.org and our readers to help public school students and teachers get the resources they need to make learning come alive.
Chances are you care about science, or education, or both. Probably you’re the kind of person who thinks that solid — and engaging — math and science education is an important resource for kids to have as they hurtle into the future and face the challenges of our modern world.
It’s a resource that’s getting squeezed by tight public school budgets. But as 2013 draws to a close, I invite you to do something small that can have an immediate impact.
DonorsChoose is a site where public school teachers from around the U.S. submit requests for specific needs in their classrooms — from books to science kits, overhead projectors to notebook paper, computer software to field trips — that they can’t meet with the funds they get from their schools (or from donations from their students’ families). Then donors choose which projects they’d like to fund and then kick in the money, whether it’s a little or a lot, to help a proposal become a reality.
Over the last several years, bloggers have rallied their readers to contribute what they can to help fund classroom proposals through DonorsChoose, especially proposals for projects around math and science, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, funding hundreds of classroom projects, and impacting thousands of students.
Which is great. But there are a whole lot of classrooms out there that still need help.
To create the scientifically literate world we want to live in, let’s help give these kids — our future scientists, doctors, teachers, decision-makers, care-providers, and neighbors — the education they deserve.
One classroom project at a time, we can make things better for these kids. Joining forces with each other people, even small contributions can make a big difference.
How to join in the fun with a challenge of your own:
1. Go to donorschoose.org
Scroll to the bottom of the page. In the second column of links from the left, right under Campaigns, click Create a registry.
2. You’ll find yourself on a page that gives you several options for what kind of Giving Page you’d like to create. Click the one that says “Science Bloggers for Students”.
3. Name your challenge, add a personal message if you like, and choose a “Giving Group” from the pull-down menu. Specify the kind of classroom projects you’d like to appear on your Giving Page. (If you’d rather hand-pick projects for your Giving Page, you can do that after you’ve saved your Giving Page customizations — instructions are under #3 on the “Customize Your Giving Page” page.)
4. Share your Giving Page — on your blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, wherever! Let people know about the projects you’d like to help fund, and put your dollars (and networks of information sharing) together to make it happen. Let me know you’ve mounted a challenge — and give me the link to your Giving Page — and I will publicize it here, and on Twitter, and on Facebook!
How to help as a donor:
Follow the links to your chosen blogger’s challenge on the DonorsChoose website.
Pick a project from the slate the blogger has selected. Or more than one project, if you just can’t choose. (Or, if you really can’t choose, just go with the “Give to the most urgent project” option at the top of the page.)
Donate.
Even if you can’t make a donation, you can still help! Spread the word about these challenges using web 2.0 social media modalities. Link your favorite blogger’s challenge page on your MySpace page, or put up a link on Facebook, or FriendFeed, or LiveJournal (or Friendster, or Xanga, or …). Tweet about it on Twitter (with the #scibloggers4students hashtag). Share it on Google +. Sharing your enthusiasm for this cause may inspire some of your contacts who do have a little money to get involved and give.
Here’s the permalink to my giving page.
Thanks in advance for your generosity.
