Volume II Issue 9 May 2003
The State of the State Budget - There is no budget yet
It seems that the state budget process this year has taken some completely new
turns and a life of its own. I have been in contact with the three State Senators
and seven State Representatives who represent constituencies in the school districts
in which we serve. In general, the response to the Science in Motion program
has been positive both at the Susquehanna University level and the statewide
consortium level. Most folks seem to agree that Science in Motion is an effective
way to bolster science programs across a wide range of school districts. At
this point, we seem to be one of the pawns in the grand scheme of budget negotiations.
Several legislators have told me that they are “cautiously optimistic”
about our funding for next year. For obvious reasons, no one is making promises
at this time. I understand that negotiations are on-going and most of the people
in state government hope to have a workable budget in place by June 30th. The
budget that is on the books at present is not deemed workable by many of the
legislators with whom I have spoken.
Approach your local school boards and superintendents
There have been many educational initiatives put forth in the last few years.
The Federal program, No Child Left Behind, emphasizes reading and math education.
In fact, this program ties allocation of federal monies to public schools with
increased performance in standardized tests. While this program may be helping
to jump start lagging math and reading programs, it may be doing so at the expense
of science education. Science education is costly and time consuming. Many school
districts across the nation have devoted increased time and money to boosting
their math and reading programs since their funding will be cut if they don’t
show improving scores. Unfortunately, science education seems to be the major
area which suffers the cuts in time and expenditures to compensate for the math
and reading increases. Boosting math education does not necessarily boost science
education. Your school board needs to know you value science education as much
as the other programs available. Since the State Board of Education is now piloting
the PSA science testing, passing that exam will be added as a graduation requirement
by the state in the near future. Please make sure your school district is up
to speed. We are here to help.
If we are going to attract businesses into the Central Susquehanna Valley we need to have workers who are trained in science and technology. Similarly, we as a voting public will be asked increasingly to vote on science and technology issues at the ballot box and with our pocketbooks. Our children are our future.
On a personal note, mine are fond of pointing out that they will be picking out my nursing home… so it would probably be a good thing for them to be able to understand the science and technology of the future!
Birgit Musheno is leaving us – so sad
It is with a heavy heart that I report that Birgit has resigned as of June 30th.
Birgit and her family have decided to return to Arizona. Birgit will be returning
to the classroom in her old school. She will be sorely missed here at Science
in Motion. Birgit’s cheerful can-do attitude and incredible energy level
really helped to jump-start the Biology program this year. Please let her know
what she meant to you and your classes.
Mike McDevitt, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…
As the school year winds down, Science in Motion is gearing up for our annual
Secondary Science Teacher Workshop. I am sure we will have a mix of teachers
new to Science in Motion and perhaps a few veterans. Hopefully, we can accommodate
the needs of both categories of participants. I guarantee a very valuable five
days.
I have been charged with providing the equipment, protocols, and peripherals needed to do any chemistry experiments available through Science in Motion at Susquehanna. We are also open to adapting our procedures and equipment to any experiments you perform now or hope to perform in the future. We are also open to attempting experiments on the several statewide Science in Motion Web sites. We have several days of sharing scheduled with Mobile Educators from each SIM University in early June. The ingenuity and dedication of these people is truly amazing. I know we will return with great ideas and activities to share with you.
Also, have you a pet project or experiment you always wanted to try, but expense or time was a problem? Well, bring us your creative ideas and we will try to produce a lab experience that will be of value to your program. Perhaps teachers not participating in our seminar would like to schedule time over the summer where we can get together and create new experiments or troubleshoot and perfect experiments that are already part of Science in Motion. I am very sure my summer schedule will have time to meet with you and create a strategy to produce a workable experiment.
On a different note, I would like to solicit responses and ideas to possibly creating a one-semester, high school, “Analytical Chemistry” course, using Science in Motion technology. The course, as I have envisioned it, would begin with simple mathematical relationships, equation manipulation, proper graphing techniques, and statistical analysis. Scientific report writing could also be included. This would be followed with proper data collection techniques, use of significant figures, data analysis (i.e.% Error), manipulating data to illustrate chemical principles and relationships (i.e. graphing Concentration vs. time, ln C vs. T, and 1/ C vs. T in Kinetics), use of analytical balances, etc. Following this introductory section, we could go on to several forms of spectophotometry and chromatography. Topics could be as varied as Solution Math, Acid/Base Chemistry, Equilibrium and Kinetics, Bio-Organic Reactions, etc. Obviously this is a very nebulous synopsis, but I am sure if there is an interest Science in Motion has the resources to produce such a course. Please touch base with me if you have an interest.
Chemistry Experiment of the Month
"Comparing Sunscreens"
Sunscreens are available in many different levels of protection. The most common measure of protection from UVB light is the SPF value, sun protection factor. Sun protection factor describes the increased amount of time you can be exposed to sunlight. However, what is the mathematical relationship between SPF 50 and SPF 25? Is it a linear or exponential relationship?
In this experiment you will measure the amount of UV light that passes through sunscreen applied to a transparent membrane. With Science in Motion NEW Vernier UV detectors, you can compare the relative amounts of UVB light that pass through many samples of different SPF and different commercial brands. Using our Dell laptops, Vernier software, and Vernier UV sensor, students will generate graphs comparing relative effectiveness of different SPF values and also the effectiveness of sunscreens across different brands of sunscreen. A third graph of effectiveness vs. cost can also be realized. I am very sure this will become one of the more popular Chem Van experiments.
Birgit Musheno, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
As you probably read above, my family will be heading back to Arizona this summer,
and I sure hate to say goodbye to all of you. I’ve had a very rewarding
year meeting so many of you, being a part of your classrooms, and enjoying the
beautiful countryside as I travel the Susquehanna Valley…thank you for
making this year such a success both personally and professionally! My husband
(currently a professor at Lycoming) has been offered a great job/promotion back
at Arizona State University, and that coming on the heels of the incredible
winter we had was enough to convince him that Pennsylvania would make a terrific
summer vacation destination from a home base in Arizona! I contacted my old
high school and they said they’d welcome me back to teach honors and regular
biology, so I’ll be back in the classroom next year. I’m making
a special effort to leave everything organized and easy for my replacement next
year so you can feel confident calling for the labs you enjoyed this year, plus
the ones you didn’t have a chance to try yet. I will let you know my new
e-mail address so we can keep in touch, and I’ll be here for the June
seminar as well.
Congratulations to Debbie Muffly at Milton Area High School, the winner of our “you returned the questionnaire” prize drawing last month! Debbie received twenty prepared nutrient agar plates just in time to begin her unit on bacteria and fungi…what great timing! Thanks to everyone who returned the surveys.
We were excited to receive a copy of “Biology Today,” an informative newsletter focusing on DNA technologies prepared by Jennifer Reichenbach’s students at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School, following the Bio Van visit for an assortment of labs including Bacterial Transformation, Crime Scene and DNA Fingerprinting. Jennifer’s students extended their learning about DNA and genetics to the entire campus, as teams of students prepared brief articles on topics of interest, then put them all together in a professional-looking layout (complete with photos and graphics) for distribution to the student body at Lourdes. What a great way to show – and share – all they have learned this year!
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It’s true that labs involving DNA have been among our most popular (and no wonder, since the equipment is often prohibitively expensive for individual schools) but in April, they were edged out by our circulatory system labs! We began and ended the month at Shamokin Area High School, where Bob Hartman’s Anatomy and Physiology students met the challenge of the Transfusion Confusion blood typing lab and also performed the EKG and Heart Rate and Fitness labs using our Vernier probes and laptops. From Shamokin, we traveled to Kathy Bower’s classes at Milton for the EKG lab…which was also performed in April at Shikellamy High School by Yvonne Monahan’s students. While we were at Shik, Sheila Furr’s students investigated the quality of local water samples with our water quality sensors (nitrate, ammonium, calcium/hardness, chloride/salinity, conductivity/dissolved solids, pH, turbidity, and temperature).
For the first time with our water quality testing lab, we also checked the water samples for presence of bacteria, and the results were fascinating. Sheila’s students could clearly see differences in bacterial growth between pond, river, stream, and well water samples, then correlate these results with the different water chemistry profiles.
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Our next stop was Angela Farronato’s classroom at Mount Carmel Area High School for the Respiration Rate of Poikilotherms lab (our Experiment of the Month!). Angela’s students had been patiently waiting since February to complete this lab, since they got “snowed out” of their scheduled lab day.
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Finally, we enjoyed a festive week at Lewisburg Area High School, where Geoff Goodenow’s Advanced Biology classes were celebrating Earth Day, DNA Day and Career Day (also known as Take Your Kid to Work Day) while we were working our way through the Crime Scene lab. My thanks to Geoff’s terrific students for welcoming my daughter into their classroom, and for trying out a new protocol using balloons to enlarge the thumbprints of our “suspects” in the crime.
The State Department of Education has designated Mike and me to be “lead
teachers” to spread the word about opportunities for teachers in the region,
so I’ve been forwarding interesting opportunities to those of you who
I’ve had e-mail dealings with. If you would like to be included on this
list, please send me a brief note at musheno@susqu.edu, and I’ll forward
you the latest summer workshop/training information that I’ve received.
Speaking of workshops, the reservation forms for our June teacher workshop have begun piling up here at the office, so if you are interested in attending, be sure to get yours in soon! You’ll enjoy a week of stimulating collaboration with some really wonderful teachers from the area, lots of hands-on experience with our equipment, ideas for labs that fit your curriculum, loads of Act 48 hours as well as a generous stipend for your time. Hope to see you there!
Biology Experiment of the Month
"Does Temperature Affect the Respiration Rate of Poikilotherms?"
Using the laptop computers, Vernier Carbon Dioxide Gas sensor and live crickets, students investigate the effect of temperature on the respiration rate of an exothermic organism. Each lab group places three or four crickets in the respiration chamber, then attaches the CO2 sensor and records a graph of CO2 levels in the chamber over time at room temperature.
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Using an ice bath or hot water bath, the students can repeat the procedure at varying temperatures and compare the slopes of the graphs to investigate the relationship between environmental temperature and respiration rate. This lab can lead to interesting discussions as the crickets gradually enter a state of torpor under low temperatures, appearing to be dead, only to revive as they warm up later. The same experimental setup can also be used to explore the respiration rate of germinating vs. non-germinating peas, to demonstrate that seeds are alive and plants perform cellular respiration as well as photosynthesis.
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Susquehanna University is now an Act 48 Provider
By the time the June workshop arrives, Susquehanna University will be an Act
48 provider and SIM will be able help you process that paperwork.
Summer Workshop Scheduled for the Week of June 16, 2003
We still have a few spaces left. As of this newsletter, there are 7 available
spaces. All secondary science teachers are invited to apply. Priority will be
given to teachers who have not done the weeklong workshop but
if we have spaces left returnees are welcome. You will find an application form
for the weeklong summer workshop attached to this newsletter. Below is the tentative
schedule.
Monday – “Meet the Equipment” - An introduction to the Vernier Logger Pro System, HPLC, Gas Chromatography, Spectroscopy and Gel Electrophoresis.
Tuesday – Teachers set up and run SIM experiments with the help of the Science in Motion staff and SU consultants. There will be a list of available experiments and you may choose those which interest you.
Wednesday – “Develop New Protocols” - This is a chance to develop new experiments using the SIM equipment or modify existing experiments to suit your classroom needs and curriculum. The SIM staff and our SU consultants will be available to help you design and trouble shoot new ideas.
Thursday – Experience more SIM labs or continue to work on the labs which you started to develop Wednesday.
Friday – “Crime Scene” - We have added more chemistry and biology based forensic analysis labs so even if you have already done the “Crime Scene“ group in your classroom, there should be several new procedures for you to follow. We would encourage the chemists and biologists to switch perspectives and try new methods.
Save a Tree
If you wish to receive this newsletter in electronic format, please send us
your e-mail address at sciencemotion@susqu.edu or phone us at 372-4779.
Jan Reichard-Brown
Director, Science in Motion
570-372-4778 or reichardbrown@susqu.edu
________________________________________________________________________________________
Focus: The focus of this workshop will be to train area secondary science teachers to use Science in Motion equipment and instrumentation and to help them adapt Science in Motion laboratory experiments to their curricula and classroom needs.
Instructors: Instruction will be provided by current Susquehanna University faculty, the Science in Motion Biology and Chemistry Mobile Educators, as well as other outside resource people.
Who: Current secondary science teachers from the area who would like to become competent with the equipment available from the Science in Motion program, or would like to make better use of the resources available through Science in Motion. This is a weeklong workshop and participants will be expected to commit to the entire program.
Stipend: Secondary teachers attending the workshop will be awarded a stipend. Teachers will also be given Act 48 credit for their participation. Lunch will be provided, as well as, morning and afternoon refreshments.
Registration: Limited to 20 people from any of the natural sciences with preference given to those who did not attend last year.
________________________________________________________________
I am interested in this workshop and can commit to the entire week.
Name________________________ School __________________________
Home Address__________________________________________________
Home Phone________________________ Email______________________
Classes currently teaching________________________________________
Please return this form to: