The Newsletter for Science in Motion at Susquehanna University

Volume VII Issue 10 June 2008

 

Director's Column

Tuesday, May 6th, was SIM Capitol Day to raise awareness about the program and generate 2008-09 funding support. SU-SIM had a display in the East Rotunda and was joined by Paulette Armbruster and her Selinsgrove High School students Laura Kummerer, Ben Morrow, Nicole Miller, Brett Orren, Taylor Rice, Alex Shaffer, Isaiah Shipman, Jessica Van Horn and Darla Vargo. A press conference was held in the Main Rotunda with speakers Dr. Don Mitchell, Senator Robert Robbins (R-50), Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-2), Representative James Roebuck (D-188) and Representative Mike Fleck (R-81). Our display was quite popular with several SU alumni stopping by as well as Representatives Russell Fairchild (R-85), Adam Harris (R-182), David Millard (R-109) and Merle Phillips (R-108). We greatly appreciate the support of legislators which has allowed our program to continue!

Representatives Adam Harris and Merle Phillips respectively, with Dr. Courtney Thomas, SIM, and Selinsgrove High School's Paulette Armbruster and her students at Capitol Day.

Friday, May 16th, Representative Merle Phillips (R-108) joined Madge Schworer at Milton High School for the final day of Crime Scene experiments. Students showed Representative Phillips how they narrowed down the suspects using microscopic analysis of hair, blood typing, GC analysis of the contents of a bottle, DNA analysis as well as other experiments. Teachers Kathy Bower and Jocelyn Bailey took Representative Phillips through the evidence collection process students performed earlier in the week. A reporter from news radio WKOK was on hand as well.

Representative David Millard with SIM Mobile Educator, Madge Schworer and SIM Director, Dr. Courtney Thomas.	Representative Merle Phillips and Dr. Thomas joined Milton High School students for their final day of Crime Scene experiments.

There are still a few spots left for teachers who would like to attend the SIM Summer Workshop from June 16th through June 20th. Contact Melanie if you are interested.

 

Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…

As the end of this school year draws to a close, the emphasis for Biology has been Crime Scene Investigation. Biology students at Bloomsburg High School taught by Jim Perry looked at fingerprints and hair samples provided by students in each class as well as fabric analysis, blood typing, and DNA fingerprinting to solve the murder of fictional teacher Edward Coli. It was a fun week with everyone really getting into the role of crime scene investigator! Next I participated in the Milton High School CSI lab by supplying gas chromatography, melt-temp, foot pressure plate, and DNA fingerprinting stations as well as microscopes for hair analysis in the annual CSI event planned by teachers Jocelyn Bailey and Kathy Bower for their Biology and ABC classes. Students took on the investigation of the murder of Mr. Wynn and pursued many leads and strands of evidence leading to the “arrest” of Mr. Hosterman for the crime. The week of labs was featured in an article and web report by The Daily Item and interviews by radio station WKOK. We were pleased to welcome Representative Merle Phillips to the final day of the activity. Students did an excellent job explaining their assigned investigative tasks that helped to solve the crime. The next visit was to Danville High School for another Crime Scene Investigation of the murder of Mr. E. Coli. Biology students of Donna Counterman and Sonia Crane analyzed fingerprints, hair samples, fabric, footprints, blood typing, and DNA fingerprinting to solve the crime as a part of their end of the year final. Students in Donna Wood’s classes worked on this lab with the same activities in April meaning that all the Danville biology students experienced the Science in Motion CSI lab and shared a common experience. We had students from the earlier visit checking on progress throughout the week and the intensity and interest shown by the students was exciting and gratifying for me! It was not all crime scene in May as Paulette Armbruster’s classes at Selinsgrove High School used polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to look at the Evolutionary Relationship of Fish. Students extracted proteins from a variety of fish muscle samples and then ran their gels. The very next day, several of these students accompanied Mrs. Armbruster to Harrisburg and joined with the mobile educators and directors in the annual Capital Day event. It was a pleasure to hear the students speak with confidence to the legislators about their experiences with Science in Motion. And analysis of their gels was waiting for them the day following their trip.

Milton students work to determine melting point of unknown pills found at crime scene.	Danville bio students prepare to load CSI DNA samples on to agarose gel in DNA Fingerprinting.

In addition to visits, teachers have continued with SIM loans this month. Angela Farronato from Mt Carmel High School borrowed the EKG sensors and computers and the CSI Blood Typing activity for her Anatomy and Physiology classes. Dan Smith of Juniata High School borrowed the PV 92 PCR lab for his Bio 2 class. Jim Perry and Jim Dodge of Bloomsburg High School borrowed the SIM digital microscopes. Kirk Seesholtz of Millville High School borrowed the pGLO Bacterial Transformation lab as did Joshua Greene of Bloomsburg Christian Academy. Bloomsburg Christian students also carried the transformation lab to the next step by growing up the transformed bacteria and isolating the glowing protein using column chromatography. Kathy Bower of Milton High School borrowed the spirometers and the oxygen sensors for the labs Analysis of Lung Function and Oxygen and Aerobic Metabolism. The school year will conclude with Mobile Educators from many consortium sites gathering at Juniata College (Raystown Field Station) for our second annual workshop.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the summer workshop. Thanks for another productive year with Science in Motion. Enjoy the summer break!

 

Jaclyn Todd, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…

The school year is coming to an end. I’d like to say thanks to all of the wonderful teachers who I had the opportunity to work with this year. I look forward to working with many of you again next year. Feel free to send me any suggestions or ideas that you may have thought of for the upcoming school year.

This month began with a trip to Shikellamy High School. The physics students of Colleen Ruths performed the lab Ohm’s Law. Her students used Vernier circuit boards, differential voltage probes and current probes to determine the relationship between current, voltage and resistance in a circuit. The students also performed the lab Series and Parallel Circuits. They studied current and voltages in series and parallel circuits using the Vernier circuit board. The students also used the circuit board to perform the lab Capacitors where they measure an experimental time constant of a resistor-capacitor circuit and compare it to the value predicted from the component values of the resistors and capacitance. They can also measure the potential across a capacitor as it discharges and charges. The chemistry students of Faye Hinson at Milton High School put SIM to work with two labs this month. They performed the lab Alpha, Beta, Gamma where they use a Vernier radiation counter to measure the absorption of radiation by air, paper and aluminum. They also did the lab Comparing the UVB blocking performance of Sunglasses and Sunscreens. The lab excites students to discover the UVB light blocking performance of various kinds of sunglasses and sunscreens. They are encouraged to bring in the sunglasses and sunscreens they use to put them to the test. The Chemistry Crime Scene equipment spent a week with Deb Slattery’s chemistry classes at Danville High School where students attempted to solve the crime: Who stole the Bucknell Bison mascot uniform? Students performed a variety of crime scene investigations over the course of the week such as melting point analysis, fabric analysis, infrared spectroscopy and paper and gas chromatography using high-tech equipment in a forensic manner. The chemistry crime scene also spent some time this month at Selinsgrove High School with the students of Tracy Hepner. Our popular liquid nitrogen demonstrations were performed in front of large audiences of students by Tracy Hepner of Selinsgrove High School. Tracy performs an array of experiments to display cryogenics and makes liquid nitrogen ice cream at the end of her shows! This liquid nitrogen display also took place at Williamsport High School for the students of Bo Meyer. My last visit of the month was to Knoebel’s Amusement Park with students from the physics classes of Mark Peterman from Loyalsock Township High School. We had fun performing the experiments in the Knoebel’s Physics Day packet.

Loyalsock High School student, Garrett Schneider, uses a low-g accelerometer to determine his centripetal acceleration on the Grand Carousel at Knoebel's Amusement Park.

The other ME’s and I then spent the last week of the month up by Juniata College during our annual curriculum retreat at Raystown Lake. I look forward to seeing many of you in June at our annual SIM summer workshop. Enjoy your summer vacation!

 

Greg Stout, Mobile Educator Says...

It’s hard for me to believe we are closing out our school year here at SIM. On the last day of April, Milton High School students and teacher Karen Avery completed their sixth and final stream visit at Limestone Run. These students at Milton and seven other high school classes in our Chesapeake Bay Commission funded program did a fantastic job of sampling, analyses, record keeping and all that was asked of them to fulfill their obligations this year.

Other high schools completing their last stream visit of the year were Bloomsburg Christian (Joshua Greene), Shikellamy (Mary Dahlmann), Bloomsburg (Doug VanBrunt), Central Columbia (Dana Hock) and Shikellamy (Sheila Furr). In addition to performing our regular duties (physical/chemical CBC program requirements), we were also able to do some macroinvertebrate sampling and identification to biologically evaluate the health of each stream.

Teacher Karen Avery and Milton High School students at Limestone Run.	Bloomsburg High School students sampling water at Hemlock Creek.

For all the teachers involved in this year’s CBC program, it was a pleasure working with you and your students this year. It was a thrill to watch the students grow in both technique and knowledge of water quality measurement as the year progressed. I’ve also enjoyed the camaraderie with the teachers and just watching the students express their joy and laughter when in the stream or while working at the van. It was a great year!

I also had the pleasure of classroom visits in May to Tri-Valley High School with teacher Pam Ulicny and her students. Ms. Ulicny and I facilitated Bio-Rad’s Bacterial Transformation Lab (P-Glo) with two of her classes. This is a fun lab for the students and I am still impressed with the high yields (of transformants) that I have witnessed in this lab.

Tri-Valley High School students conducting Bacterial Transformation Lab.

I was also privileged to attend Capitol Day with my colleagues and being involved with discussions with state senators/legislators about SIM. We appreciate their support of us and ask that you continue to let them know how important our program is to you.

I wish each of you a relaxing summer vacation and am looking forward to working with many of you in the next school year. Enjoy!

 

Experiment of the Month

How Does Temperature Affect Poikilotherms?

This month’s featured experiment is the ever popular How Does Temperature Affect Poikilotherms? or “Cricket Respiration”. Students study the effect of temperature on the metabolism of cold-blooded organisms by monitoring the production of carbon dioxide by the crickets at varying temperatures. The Vernier carbon dioxide sensors are used for the data collection and students record the slope of the line generated on the computer as the indication of the rate of metabolism. The initial appeal of this lab is the ugh! or “fun” factor of the crickets alone as the hook for students interest. The use of living organisms provides the opportunity to discuss humane research approaches and the collection of data using the computer provides visual demonstration of the changes made in respiration with changes in the environment of the crickets. This lab is a good one to introduce students to setting up an experiment and the importance of controlled methods of data collection. I have used this lab successfully with 7th graders on through AP Bio students with the discussion geared to the specific class. Students can always get a baseline room temperature and one temperature variable accomplished in a 40-minute class period. If time allows, students can simply test another temperature. Data sharing between groups allows the entire class to see the whole picture.

Lab set up.

 

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