Providing Resources and Technology for Underprivileged Students

Project: The Workbooks for Students project is designed to supply all students in the school with both Practice Workbooks and Problem Solving Workbooks. Our school doesn’t currently have the funds to supply all students with textbooks, but the students have access to online textbooks and workbooks through Holt Online Services. However, since our student population is predominantly lower income, not all of them have access to the Internet. Although the school was able to fund a classroom set of Texas Instruments 83 plus graphing calculators, many of the students are not familiar with this technology. Therefore, it is necessary for me to have a tool that will assist them. The calculator emulator is an interactive calculator, which simultaneously shows the screen and the buttons to the students.

Educational Value: To allow underprivileged students access to the same resources as their peers, it is necessary to provide each student with workbooks from which they can practice the concepts they learn, and another workbook from which they can model real world situations with mathematics. These underprivileged students will have to compete with students who’ve had access to all the latest technology in college and in the workforce. Hence, it is imperative that the students have all technological tools available. Providing these supplies and resources to the students will ensure the same educational standards are expected from all students, regardless of economic background.

Curriculum Standards: Since the workbooks are for Algebra and Geometry, all of the Arizona Mathematics Strands will be covered during the class, and the use of the workbooks will aid in student mastery of the concepts included in each Strand. The Calculator Emulator Software will aid in the mastery of Strand 3, Technology Productivity Tools, and Strand 6, Technology as a Tool For Problems Solving and Decision Making, in the Arizona Technology Standards. The calculator will be used to aid students in understanding the graphical interpretation of solutions to algebraic equations and in allowing them to perform statistical analysis of data collected form real situations.

Budget:

Item / Quantity / Cost Per Item / Total Cost
Holt Geometry Practice Problem Workbook / 50 / $1.50 / $75
Holt Geometry Problem Solving Workbook / 50 / $1.50 / $75
Holt Algebra Practice Workbook / 92 / $1.50 / $138
Holt Algebra Problem Solving Workbook / 92 / $1.50 / $138
TI-Smartview Calculator Emulator / 1 / $152.00 / $152.00
Total / 284 / $6.00 / $472.00