The Governor’s Budget - Science in Motion not funded on the first round
Life is full of irony. Tuesday, March 4th, we spent the day in the rotunda of the State Capitol (see item below) with most of the Higher Ed partners in the Science in Motion Consortium. We were there to do a “show and tell” for the people involved in our state government. At 11:30 a.m. the governor proposed his budget, which did not include funding for Science in Motion for next year. On Thursday, March 6th, the House passed the governor’s budget as is. We are anticipating that the Senate or the governor will veto this current budget. If that happens, we wait for the next round of negotiations. For those of you new to the program, this happened last year. However, this is a very tight budget year and there are many worthwhile causes asking for money. We need to convince the legislators that this worthwhile, cost effective program needs to be funded again for 2003-2004. Now is the time for you, the teachers and administrators whose schools use the Science in Motion Program, to contact your state representatives and legislators and let them know what this program means to your students. You should also contact your colleagues outside of your legislative district and ask them to support the program by contacting their legislators. I would also suggest contacting the head of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. There is a list of contacts attached to the back of this newsletter. It is also available on our Web site, www.susqu.edu/sim/links. Many of the legislators track the number of letters and e-mails they receive from their constituents concerning a particular item so please voice your concerns either on paper or electronically. When Mike or Birgit comes to your classroom they may ask you to have your students sign a card thanking your legislators for funding the program. Please follow through with this request, it give the students a voice. I will be working toward a personal meeting with each of our legislators to update them on how our first year went and to explain some preliminary service numbers from this year. Birgit has designed a teacher survey, please fill it out and return it.

Capitol Day – March 4, 2003
Representatives Merle Phillips, Russell Fairchild and Adam Harris each took time out of their busy schedules to observe and participate in the Science in Motion demonstrations and activities which were set up in the Rotunda of the State Capitol on March 4th.

Birgit Musheno brought along the “Genes in a Bottle” activity in which you extract your own DNA from your cheek cells and preserve it in a small glass vial, which can be worn as a necklace. Below, Representatives Phillips, Fairchild and Harris sporting their very own DNA Necklaces!

In addition to the Susquehanna University Science in Motion Program, most of the Colleges and Universities in the statewide consortium brought activities and demonstrations. Mrs. Tracy Hepner and Mrs. Faye Hinson also brought five of their students from Danville Area High School. The students met Representatives Merle Phillips and Adam Harris when they came to visit our display and participate in the activities available. The Danville students were able to experience many of the laboratory activities offered by the other Science in Motion Programs. It is our understanding that the Danville Area High School students and teachers now have quite a wish list of equipment and experiments they want to have available next year. A big hit was the foot pressure plate brought by Juniata College which allowed you to visualize and analyze your walking step, your sense of balance and exactly which part of your foot takes the pounding. Not only was this fun, but the lessons that can be learned associated with physics, human physiology and kinesiology are amazing. It is my understanding that one of these pressure plates costs $5000. That is expensive but if we can buy one or two and use it among all the schools that SU Science in Motion serves, it would be cost effective. We took lots of pictures which are posted on our Web site on the “What’s Happening” page.

Mike McDevitt, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…
I am looking forward to spring! No school delays or cancellations, no rescheduling, just Science in Motion operating as it was designed. In case you operate on block scheduling, feel free to schedule two consecutive dates. This should ensure that Mother Nature will not totally interfere with the Science in Motion visit.

The following are open dates for the Chemistry Van for the remainder of the 2002-2003 school year:

· March 17, 19, 25, 26, 31
· April 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 21-30
· May 12, 13, 19-30
· June 4, 5, 10-13

Also, for those who feel comfortable with our computers, Vernier probes and Vernier software, we can now offer an equipment drop-off which can include 1 to 6 computers, Vernier interfaces, printers, and necessary apparatus, glassware, chemicals and solutions. I anticipate dropping off and picking up on a Friday. This will allow a five-day time period where the equipment can be used by you and your students.

Another announcement: We have purchased 8 Vernier motion detectors and 8 Dual Range Force Sensors which are available to do physical science or Physics activities. Soon to be purchased: All peripherals such as pulleys, hanging weights, wooden blocks, etc.

Once again, thank you for your hospitality. I realize it is not easy to fit Science in Motion into your busy schedule. Hopefully, I will be visiting your school this spring.

Chemistry Experiment of the Month
With the end of the school year fast approaching, I realize that many of the chemistry curriculums will be ending the year with acid/base chemistry as one of their final topics. Chemistry with Computers, Experiments 23 and 24, deal with titrations involving a variety of both weak and strong acid and base samples. The logger pro software and the Dell laptops allow a titration curve to be created as the titration progresses. A final curve which lends itself to analysis from the logger pro toolbar can be produced and printed allowing a comparison of the various endpoints that occur when different acid/base samples are titrated. Examples of titrations of interest would be Strong Acid (HCl (aq)) titrated with a strong base (NaOH (aq)), weak acid (Acetic) titrated with a strong base (NaOH (aq)), and weak acid (Acetic) titrated with a weak base (NH4OH (aq)).

Science in Motion will provide all necessary equipment and solutions as well as 8 laptops and Vernier interfaces with necessary printers. Burets, pH probes, indicators, and glassware will be transported and assembled at your school. If both Experiments 23 and 24 are requested, a two-period time allocation would be necessary.

Birgit Musheno, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
Your response to the Biology Van continues to be amazing! In spite of the continuing snowy weather in February, we managed to add new participating schools and teachers to our growing list, and the Bio van schedule is now almost completely booked through the end of the school year. In the midst of gloomy news about the economy, world politics and the weather, the reception our program has received by you and your students continues to warm our hearts and keep us focused on our important mission of improving the educational opportunities for students studying science in the Susquehanna Valley.

As you can read on the front page of this newsletter, the Science in Motion program has some hurdles to overcome in the coming months. The benefits of our program are obvious to anyone, but there are many worthy programs competing for a shrinking pool of funding dollars, so your legislators face some tough budget decisions. Please consider taking a few moments out of your demanding schedule to do two things to help ensure we will be here to serve you in the coming years…e-mail or write your local legislators, and complete the teacher survey enclosed in this newsletter. Your answers to the questions posed on the survey will help us (and those who fund us) evaluate the success of our program and the impact it is having in our region. Plus, I’m prepared to offer the following carrot to entice you to return that survey:

Everyone who returns the survey postmarked by April 1 will be entered in a drawing to receive – delivered to your classroom door – 20 large Petri plates prepared with LB nutrient agar, plus 40 sterile cotton swabs to enable your students to “swab your campus” to see what might be lurking unseen in their environment. We can even drop off our incubator oven for you to borrow so the students will see next-day results!

In February, our most popular lab was our Crime Scene lab, which students in Bill Gates’ biology classes at Milton Area High School and Bob Garrison’s AP Bio classes at Danville Area High School enjoyed solving. Mr. Garrison’s classroom was even dubbed “Danville CSI” by the local media, who sent a photographer to create a color spread for the Sunday paper! Other February visits included the Water Quality Testing lab for Mr. Gates’ Applied Bio classes at Milton, DNA Fingerprinting for Karen Musser’s Mifflinburg Area High School students (our first van visit to Mifflinburg!), Bacterial Transformation with Bob Garrison’s Danville students, and a return visit to Danville for Pershing Markle’s biology students for the Investigating EKG and Human Respiration labs. The Human Respiration lab is a new protocol we developed in conjunction with Mr. Markle, combining our high-tech Vernier CO2 probes and laptops with a lab he had done in the past without the use of technology. Unfortunately, the snow days we had last month forced us to postpone labs scheduled for Jennifer Reichenbach at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School and Angela Farronato at Mount Carmel Area High School…but we will make it back to Lourdes in March and are working on rescheduling the Mount Carmel visit. Thanks to all of you for bringing our services to your students!

Biology Experiment of the Month

Investigating EKG
If you cover the heart and circulatory system in your curriculum, you and your students might enjoy this fun, one-day lab that provides high-tech insight into the function of the heart. We bring eight laptop computers outfitted with Vernier probes and EKG monitor.

Students hook up electrodes to their arms, lay flat, and within a few seconds produce an EKG graph of their own heart function! The lab protocol then takes students through the steps of interpreting the information given by the graph, and they can compare their data to the normal ranges for three parameters.

Summer Workshop Scheduled for the Week of June 16, 2003 - Mark your calendar
When we started to look at the summer calendar, it became clear that there was really only one option for the weeklong summer workshop. Snow days have pushed some school districts into having classes the week of June 9th. Our SIM fiscal year ends June 30. What that leaves is the week of June 16th for the workshop. Once again, the workshop will be open to 20 secondary science teachers. Preference will be given to teachers who did not attend last year’s workshop. Like last year, there will be a stipend awarded to those teachers attending the workshop. We will have more information about the content of the workshop, as well as registration forms, a little later in the spring.

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.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Benton
Rep. John Gordner
Senator Ed Helfrick

Berwick
Rep. John Gordner
Senator Ed Helfrick

Bloomsburg
Rep. John Gordner
Senator Ed Helfrick

Central Columbia
Rep. John Gordner
Senator Ed Helfrick

Danville
Rep. Merle Phillips
Rep. Robert Belfanti
Senator Ed Helfrick

East Juniata
Rep. Adam Harris
Senator Jake Corman

Hughesville
Rep. Brett Feese
Senator Roger Madigan

Jersey Shore
Rep. Brett Feese
Senator Roger Madigan

Lewisburg
Rep. Russ Fairchild
Senator Roger Madigan

Line Mountain
Rep. Merle Phillips
Senator Ed Helfrick

Mid-West
Rep. Adam Harris
Rep. Russ Fairchild
Senator Roger Madigan

Mifflinburg
Rep. Adam Harris
Senator Roger Madigan

Millville
Rep. John Gordner
Senator Ed Helfrick

Milton
Rep. Merle Phillips
Rep. Russ Fairchild
Senator Ed Helfrick

Montgomery
Rep. Brett Feese
Senator Roger Madigan

Montoursville
Rep. Brett Feese
Senator Roger Madigan

Mt. Carmel
Rep. Robert Belfanti
Senator Ed Helfrick

Muncy
Rep. Brett Feese
Senator Roger Madigan

Selinsgrove
Rep. Merle Phillips
Rep. Russ Fairchild
Senator Ed Helfrick

Shamokin
Rep. Merle Phillips
Rep. Robert Belfanti
Senator Ed Helfrick

Shikellamy
Rep. Merle Phillips
Senator Ed Helfrick

South Williamsport
Rep. Steven Cappelli
Senator Roger Madigan

Southern Columbia
Rep. Robert Belfanti
Rep. John Gordner
Senator Ed Helfrick

Warrior Run
Rep. Merle Phillips
Rep. Russ Fairchild
Rep. Robert Belfanti
Senator Ed Helfrick

Williamsport
Rep. Steven Cappelli
Rep. Brett Feese
Senator Roger Madigan

__________________________________________________________________________________________

We ask that you complete the following survey to help us evaluate areas of strength and possible areas for improvement in our program following our inaugural year.

Name:

School:

Years of Teaching Experience:

BA Major:

MA Major:

Doctoral Major:

Special Credentials:

1. Science in Motion Workshops Attended:
Summer 2002- weeklong
Summer 2002- one day
January 2003
Plan to attend Summer 2003 from June 16-20
None

2. Before your experience with Science in Motion, had you been involved with any other scientific outreach programs that provided equipment and or expertise for use in your classroom?

3. If you answered “yes” to the above question, please describe the program.

4. How often do you communicate with the Science in Motion staff?
At least monthly
About twice a semester
About once a semester
Once a year
Haven’t contacted you, but I read the newsletter
Never

5. In the best of all possible worlds, Science in Motion would be more beneficial if it could provide the following:
___ Equipment -specifically___________________________________________________________
___ Laboratories in _________________________________________________________________
___ Teacher support for_______________________________________________________________
___ Teacher in-service at my school in __________________________________________________

6. What difficulties have you encountered in implementing the Science in Motion protocols in your curriculum?

7. To what extent have you been supported by your administration in implementing the Science in Motion protocols in your curriculum?

8. Have you shared your experiences with Science in Motion with your colleagues?
Yes
No

9. To what extent have your colleagues been interested in your curriculum development to implement the Science in Motion protocols and equipment?

10. Briefly discuss whether the Science in Motion program has increased your skill level in:

Designing positive lab experiences for students

Working with scientific probes and sensors

Integrate use of computers into the science curriculum

Finding hands-on labs that meet state and local science standards

Providing exposure to issues of technology and biotechnology

Since being exposed to the Science in Motion program, to what extent do you feel the Science in Motion lab experiences enhance the following teaching practices?

11. To enhance my students’ abilities to determine what constitutes appropriate questions and/or ideas
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

12. To enhance my students’ abilities to formulate assumptions and/or hypotheses
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

13. To enhance my students’ abilities to analyze data and draw conclusions
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

14. To provide my students with experience using the tools employed by scientists
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

15. To expose my students to possible careers in science
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

16. To promote positive attitudes toward science among my students
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

17. To incorporate more hands-on science activities
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never

18. To integrate mathematics in my curriculum
Frequently
Occasionally
Hardly ever
Never