You know, we here at Bad Astronomy central (and by we I mean me, and by BA Central I mean my house) spend a lot of time and electrons lamenting the state of education in this country. I do what I can to actually do some good out there, and sometimes I ask you guys, my loyal if somewhat goofy readers, for help.
Help.
A very cool group called Donors Choose sets up a way for people to give whatever they can directly to classrooms across the United States. The teachers and classes decide what they need, and create a page describing it. Then folks like me can link to an easy-to-use page so that you can contribute as much or little as you want.
Science bloggers have been great in promoting this. Cosmic Variance and The Intersection, for example, set theirs up already, and more of the Discover Magazine bloggers are on their way. In fact, other blog collectives are participating as well, and we usually have a bit of an informal competition to see who can do the best. Since our readers are the smartest, best-looking, and most generous, it's clear we're a cinch.
I set donation page up to list Math and Science classes with no region specified; they can be from east to west, north to south. But what they all need is a little support.
Here's my Bad Astronomy Science-a-thon 2010 page.
If you can help, take a look and see which one of the projects tickles your brain. There's also a widget in the right-hand-sidebar of this very BABlog that'll be up the whole time the challenge is running -- that'll save you having to find this page again. And it even has stats of how much people have given so far.
And even better: Hewlett Packard has agreed to match any donation up to $50,000! So whatever you give, twice as much will get to the classroom.
The challenge runs from right now through November 9. To everyone who gives: thanks.
