Last time I did this, we ended up funding three cool projects in biotechnology education. Students in Mrs. G's classroom in South Carolina got pipettors for doing PCR. Mrs. B's classroom in Starkville, Mississippi, got some laptop computers, and another class got copies of Jurassic Park (they read the books and compared the story with the reality).
Once again, I thought it would be good to set up a biotechnology education challenge. I found a set of schools that are looking for equipment to study DNA. Here's your chance to help them out.
Go to DonorsChoose and make a pledge. Help kids find out that DNA is not scary stuff.
And, here are a few more details from Janet:
The challenge this year runs for the entire month of October. A number of ScienceBloggers have already put together challenges:
Adventures in Ethics and Science (challenge here)
bioephemera (challenge here)
Discovering Biology in a Digital World (challenge here)
DrugMonkey (challenge here)
Gene Expression (challenge here)
Good Math/Bad Math (challenge here)
Green Gabbro (challenge here)
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) (challenge here)
See Jane Compute (challenge here)
Sciencewomen (challenge here)
The Scientific Activist (challenge here)
Stranger Fruit (challenge here)
Terra Sigillata (challenge here)
Thus Spake Zuska (challenge here)
Uncertain Principles (challenge here)
How It Works:
Follow the links above to the DonorsChoose website.
Pick a project from the slate the blogger has selected (or more than one project, if you just can't choose).
Donate.
(If you're the loyal reader of multiple participating blogs and you don't want to play favorites, you can, of course, donate to multiple challenges!)
DonorsChoose will send you a confirmation email. Hold onto it; our benevolent overlords at Seed will be randomly selecting some donors to receive nifty prizes. Details about the prizes and how to get entered will be posted here soon!
Oh right, and this year, Discovering Biology in a Digital World is offering prizes! Donate over $100, send a copy of your confirmation e-mail to me (digitalbio at gmail dot com) along with your mailing address and I will send you a coffee mug, of your choice, from this collection.