The Newsletter for Science in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume II Issue 5 December 2002

A Gift For Your Students
As the holiday season approaches, it gets more and more difficult to keep students engaged in classroom activities. It seems like this time of year it only takes one or two snowflakes falling outside to send the students’ minds elsewhere. Why not plan a hands-on laboratory experiment for your biology and/or chemistry students? Wow them with something they have never seen before. Students retain information better when they are actively engaged in the learning process. Surprisingly, it seems to be particularly important for girls to be able to approach science with hands-on experiments and activities. The Science in Motion vans are equipped with state of the art equipment and our teachers are well versed in the types of experiments which can be pursued in a secondary school classroom. Our teachers are also very good at taking your low-tech experiment and helping you convert it to a high tech experiment. If you would like to schedule a visit for your classes, call Mike and Birgit at 372-4780 or Melanie, SIM Secretary, at 372-4779. Not sure what is available? The answer is only a few clicks away. Check out our Web site at www.susqu.edu/SIM.

Who should be using the SIM equipment? EVERYONE!
Many teachers are scheduling SIM van visits for their Honors, Advanced or AP classes. We are thrilled with how busy we are becoming. However, we would like to reinforce the idea that all students will benefit from use of the SIM van and equipment. In fact, general science and standard biology and chemistry students really benefit from the hands-on experience. When they see science working with things in the real world, they have a much greater enthusiasm for what is going on in the classroom. It has been the experience of Mike and Birgit that the behavior of the traditional science students is on par with the advanced students. In this educational climate of state imposed standards and big stakes standardized testing, it only makes sense to bring the high tech hands-on experiences to the regular classroom. Our equipment is insured and our teachers have years of classroom experience. Please do not be afraid to schedule the van visit for the kids who may benefit the most. Please see the article below about the one-day workshop geared toward biology and chemistry for the regular classroom.

Mike McDevitt, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…
It’s been a very busy and rewarding Fall. I would like to take time to thank everyone for their cooperation and patience. I am truly amazed at the reception that your students have afforded me. I hope the honeymoon lasts forever! Please convey my appreciation to your students.

I am looking forward to seeing what old man winter has in store for the Science in Motion vans and schedules. We do have a few bookings for the winter months and welcome additional reservations. However, during January and February we may want to schedule back-to-back dates with one acting as back-up in case there are cancellations or delays. I am sure Mother Nature will provide some unique challenges.

Please allow me to take this opportunity to wish all the staff, students, and teachers in the Science in Motion Program the very best wishes for the Holidays.

Chemistry Experiment of the Month
Pressure-Temperature Relationship in Gases
(Chemistry with Computers Experiment # 7)
This experiment can be performed in one 45 minute lab period. Using our Dell laptops, Vernier interfaces and temperature and gas pressure probes, the relationship between gas pressure within an erlenmeyer flask and its temperature can be observed. By varying temperature, using both ice and hot water baths, gas pressure within the flask can be collected at various temperatures. The temperature can range from zero to eighty degrees celsius. A graph of temperature versus gas pressure can then be generated. From this graph, an experimental value for absolute zero can be obtained by extrapolating to zero gas pressure.

Birgit Musheno, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
Judging by the flood of calls and e-mails requesting Biology Van visits, the Susquehanna University Science in Motion Program is heading for a very successful first year! If you’ve been thinking of contacting me for a Bio Van visit (and I hope you have!), don’t put it off any longer…call or e-mail today to reserve a day or two…or three…for your students. We are already booked up for December, since the month is shortened by the holidays, and are just starting to get calls for January. If you’re not exactly sure where you’ll be in your curriculum at a certain day in the future, that’s no problem…we can schedule a visit now, then figure out which lab would be appropriate as the time grows near. Don’t let the year slip by without offering your students the opportunity to enjoy our high-tech, low-stress lab experiences! It couldn’t be easier for you. I’ll deliver and set up the equipment, teach the lab and provide any recommended pre-lab and post-lab activities, then clean it all up and take it away!

Having made that promise, I’d like to stress that it’s not my desire to take over your class, but to work in partnership with you to provide a quality lab experience for your students. Each lab is a work-in-progress, and together we’ll refine the student handouts, the lab techniques and procedures, and even the materials used in the lab. Just ask Geoff Goodenow at Lewisburg Area High School, who has seen quite a lot of the Bio Van this month as we brought the Catalase Lab for his Honors Biology classes, and then cutting-edge Protein Electrophoresis (“Finding the Isoelectric Point” and “Something Fishy”) labs for his Advanced Biology class. When we ran into a few uncooperative potatoes in the Catalase lab, we worked out a foolproof plan for the next time this lab is run. Next, we tackled the Isoelectric Point lab, which was developed by a professor at Purdue University for his college students. I worked with the professors at Susquehanna to perfect the buffer formulations, and with Geoff to develop a lab protocol and student materials that would be suitable for the high school classroom – and provide a good challenge for his advanced students.

Lately, I’ve been meeting quite a few of the top students in the area, as teachers call for labs for their honors, advanced, and AP courses. The bio van has visited Yvonne Monahan’s chemistry students at Shikellamy High School (Water Quality Testing),as well as, AP biology students at Danville Area High School for Rhonda Gilliom (Cellular Respiration). It’s a real pleasure to work with these students and to find labs that match their capabilities in the classroom…but I also want to bring the Bio Van to visit the “regular level” biology students, so don’t be reluctant to call if those are your kids. In fact, I hope you’ll call me to bring some biotechnology labs for these students because genetic engineering and DNA fingerprinting are two topics that will probably touch their lives in the future, even if they never take another science course after yours. Let’s send them forward with a good understanding of these critical issues!

Finally, I hope that many of you were able to attend the Crime Scenes and Biotechnology Workshop at Lycoming College on November 26th. What a great program, with hands-on labs for teachers, stacks of free resources and knowledgeable presenters! Congratulations and thanks go to Mark Temons and the Muncy Area School District as well as to Dr. Edward Gabriel at Lycoming for organizing this (huge) event. If you missed it this year, be sure to go next year as it sounds like it just keeps getting better. And speaking of workshops, don’t miss our January 10th workshop here at Susquehanna (described below)…we’ll pay for your sub, and you will be able to spend a day with your colleagues from around the area, trying out some of the labs we can bring for your students!

Biology Experiment of the Month
Genetic Engineering in the High School Classroom

Students select colonies of E. coli cells, introduce the pGLO plasmid containing the Green Fluorescent Protein gene, then heat shock the cells and plate them on antibiotic media.	After the transformation procedure, students' petri dishes are incubated overnight and glowing colonies can be observed the following day.

For this lab, students perform Bacterial Transformation…that is, they take a gene from a jellyfish that codes for a glowing protein, and insert it into E. coli bacteria to create glow-in-the-dark bacteria! It’s a fun lab for the students and easy to complete within a standard 40-50 minute class period. Most important, however, are the far-reaching implications of this technology in our world today and in the future. This lab can lead to discussions, and deeper understanding, of the use of genetic engineering in agriculture, medicine, bioremediation and biological warfare. The concepts covered in this lab also reinforce learning about prokaryotic cells and gene expression.

SIM Experiments for the Regular Classroom - Workshop January 10, 2003
We have scheduled a workshop for Friday, January 10, 2003, at Fisher Science Hall on the campus of Susquehanna University. We would like to introduce teachers who have never used SIM to the equipment and the program. Birgit and Mike will be making a special effort to introduce equipment and techniques acquired since the July workshop. We will also be emphasizing experiments that work for all students, not just the advanced students. You may sign up for the workshop by returning the attached registration form, calling the SIM office or e-mailing us at sciencemotion@susqu.edu. There will be no snow make-up date since we are working around SU’s academic calendar.

A Gift for Teachers - We will pay for your substitute for the January 10th Workshop
We cannot give you a stipend for attending this workshop during the school year. However, we know that some of our districts have tightly budgeted monies. If you would like to attend the workshop but don’t have the money for a substitute teacher, we will reimburse your school district at your districts daily pay scale. Call Melanie at 372-4779 to set up the paper work.

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