The Governor’s Budget – No funding for
basic education
Here we go again. The governor signed the bare bones budget and vetoed many
of the line items including the funding for Basic Education. This means that
Science in Motion, also known as the Pennsylvania Basic Education/Higher
Education Partnership, is not yet funded. The political process is
such that we will need to be added back into the budget. This should happen
through the negotiation process that will be tied with increasing revenues to
fund the other programs. I have been told that this is a completely different
approach to balancing the state budget. I have also been told that we will probably
not hear anything definite until late June. What does this mean to you the classroom
teacher or administrator? This means that if you have not already contacted
your state legislators on this issue you need to do so soon (see attached
lists). Let them know that you feel this program has made a difference in your
classroom or in your school science program. Remember, you have a voice not
only as an educator but also as a voting constituent. Your students do not vote
but their parents do. Get your students involved by writing letters about how
much the program means to them. Please have students write individual letters
or e-mails. A copied form letter doesn’t usually have the same impact.
I have talked with several legislators and have received reassurance that they
support the program. In this tough economic climate, though, many programs and
organizations are unfunded or under-funded. You need to let your legislators
know that this program is a priority.
I have contacted my legislators and they support SIM
- What now?
If we are going to have ongoing support, we need to convince the people who
make-up the budget that this program, Pennsylvania Basic Education/Higher Education
Partnership, is cost effective and essential for all students graduating from
Pennsylvania’s high schools. Contact Secretary Vickie Phillips and let
her know this is an educational issue. Let her know that your local school district
doesn’t have the means to replicate the SIM technology or training. Teachers
and parents, let the Department of Education know how much SIM has improved
your child’s science education. Be honest about the holes in your curricula
and training. Talk to the Department of Education about professional training
and being isolated in a school district. Let the people deciding the fate of
your child’s and/or your students education see that we in rural Pennsylvania
know what constitutes good education. Contact the Governor’s office as
well. The addresses for the Department of Education and Governor Rendell are
also attached. Contact your school board members and let them know that this
program is working.
We are looking for outside funding - Any ideas?
Science in Motion Director has computer - is willing to write grant applications.
I am starting to pursue other funding options. The biggest problem seems to
be many places want to provide equipment but do not want to commit to personnel
or operating expenses. If you know of a foundation or group that may be willing
to help, particularly with salaries and operating expenses, please drop me a
line or call. I will be actively pursuing alternative funding from this end.
Often times, successful funding is the matter of finding the right sort or sorts
of foundations for your goals. At this point, we are somewhat hampered in that
we have only really been in existence for one academic year. The June newsletter
will contain the year-end service report. I think we have made great strides
for our first year. You may contact me by email at reichardbrown@susqu.edu or
phone 372-4778.
Mike McDevitt, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…
I just returned from NSTA Conference meetings in Philadelphia, March 26 –
29th. Temperatures in southeast PA were 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit but of course
we all know what happened on Sunday! This winter gets my vote for the all time
most persistent and irritating. At the conference, I managed to meet my science
superheroes, Bill Nye and Larry Flinn. I attended many, many sessions and met
with several SIM teachers also attending. I returned with many ideas and an
incredible number of catalogs. Let’s utilize these ideas and celebrate
Christmas in July. Let’s create a wish list of experiments or apparatus
that you would like to use for the 2003-04 school year. Included here are a
few ideas, please feel free to add to the list.
Which of the following experiments or pieces of apparatus would be valuable
to your program?
· Bright Line Spectroscopy
· Infrared Spectroscopy
· Foot Pad Force Sensors
· Digital Thermometers
· Organic Chemistry Experiments (probably w/o computers)
· Physics probes - light meters, microphones, voltage, current
· New GC or HPLC experiments
Also, allow me to extend an invitation to you to our summer seminar for high school teachers, June 16 - 20, 2003. I am sure we can present varied and numerous experiments that will ensure a valuable use of your summer vacation time. I know all the Vernier chemistry experiments and a few Vernier physical sciences, and physics experiments will be available for you to perform. Our GC’s and HPLC’s and Spec 20’s will also be available. Feel free to make suggestions. Have a great spring!
Chemistry Experiment of the Month
Chemistry with Computers #30 Kinetics Lab - Crystal Violet
In this experiment, students will observe the reaction between crystal violet
and sodium hydroxide. By monitoring a change in color over the course of the
reaction using our Vernier colorimeter in conjunction with SIM Dell laptops,
students can collect data that will allow them to determine the rate law for
the process.
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As the reaction proceeds, a violet solution will become colorless. The student will be monitoring the absorbance of 565 nm light. The assumption is that the absorbance is proportional to the concentration of crystal violet (Beer’s Law). Absorbance will be used as a measurement of the concentration of crystal violet.
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We will be using Graphical Analysis to produce three graphs, Ab vs. time, lnAb vs. time, and 1/Ab vs. time. Using these graphs, the rate law, rate constant, and the half-life for the reaction can be determined.
Birgit Musheno, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
Since April 25th is National DNA Day, commemorating Watson and Crick’s
discovery 50 years ago, I’d like to share a couple of terrific new resources
I discovered while scurrying from one presentation to another at the National
Science Teacher’s Association conference in Philadelphia last month. If
you haven’t seen these yet, check them out!
www.dnai.org
The “DNA Interactive” Web site produced by the Dolan DNA Learning
Center…This site (currently about ¾ finished but quite functional
already) has great video clips of the scientists involved in the discovery of
DNA, clear, animated explanations of their experiments, specially commissioned
molecular animations (some showing the processes in real time, and some done
by the studio that worked on the Harry Potter movies, and they have the same
“magic”!) and an inquiry-oriented interface that encourages students
to explore the evidence and solve the puzzle of DNA structure as Watson and
Crick did 50 years ago this year. Check out the interactive timeline for the
discovery of DNA (with interviews and animations), and the features that let
you assemble your own portal to the Web site that shows your students just the
information you select. This is an amazing site, packed with the latest Internet
wizardry!
http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/
This link takes you to the Genetic Science Learning Center, where you’ll
find resources for students covering many genetics topics, including stem cells
and genetic disorders. There are also easy protocols for labs, such as extracting
DNA from any source, and a link to download the BSCS unit “Bringing RNA
into View,” which has great hands-on activities that help students understand
the latest thinking about the structure and functions of RNA.
I’d also like to make you aware of an interesting summer opportunity that came across my desk…the PA Department of Environmental Protection and Penn State are offering a one-day workshop for middle/high school teachers called Hazardous Waste: Sources, Effects on Environmental Health, and Remediation Strategies, focusing on addressing PA Academic Standard 4.3 with a presentation, curriculum showcase and lesson plan development. For particulars and registration information, you may contact Karen Wasielewski, Continuing Education, Penn State Harrisburg, phone 717-948-6338 or email at kmyl@psu.edu.
THANK YOU!
We really appreciate the letters and e-mails that you and your students have
been sending to your local legislators in support of continuing funding for
Science in Motion! Our battle for funding continues, and your efforts mean a
lot to us…hopefully they will make an impact on our representatives in
Harrisburg as well! Thanks also to those of you who have returned the surveys
enclosed with last month’s newsletter. We will hold the drawing for the
“Swab your Campus” prize in mid-April…so you still have time
to get your survey in if you haven’t done it yet! If you need me to e-mail
you a copy, just let me know (musheno@susqu.edu).
I had a great time visiting many of you in March…we started out the month at Williamsport Area High School bringing the Bacterial Transformation lab to the students of Tom Mitchell, Scott Grove, Bo Meyer and George Cook. The expertise of the teachers there enabled us to bring this fun lab to nine classes of students, from applied to honors level, in two classrooms simultaneously. I think the rooms are probably still glowing with the spectacular results the students achieved with their E. coli! Our next stop was an extended (first-time) visit to Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School, where Jennifer Reichenbach introduced her classes to DNA Fingerprinting, Crime Scene, Bacterial Transformation and Cellular Respiration in Crickets labs.
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| Jen Reichenbach watches her students load DNA into a gel. | Lourdes students working together add dye to DNA samples. | Two students from Milton working on crime scene DNA evidence. |
The following week, we returned to Milton Area High School, where Deborah Muffly’s students did a great job solving the Crime Scene and finding the Isoelectric Point of Proteins. We returned to Williamsport, along with Mike and the Chem van, for a teacher in-service day, and had lots of fun exploring Genes in a Bottle, Energy in Foods, Investigating Enzymes (with some very powerful liver catalase) and Caffeine in Beverages labs with their entire science faculty plus four terrific student teachers from Lycoming College. That same day, I dropped off the electrophoresis equipment for Steve Tressler at Montoursville High School (who could teach us all quite a bit about biotechnology labs), where students extracted DNA from several organisms, used restriction enzymes to slice the DNA, then performed gel electrophoresis to compare their “fingerprints.”
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| Science teachers testing hypotheses during the Williamsport in-service. | Checking the effect of heat on dissolved oxygen at Shikellamy. |
Finally, we squeezed in a visit to Shikellamy High School before the NSTA conference…and I’m really glad we did, since Sheila Furr’s students got such great results with the Acid Rain lab that I decided to make it the Lab of the Month! We also tried out the Dissolved Oxygen lab with her students, and discovered just how earth-shaking eight students juggling eight water and ice filled milk jugs can be…
Biology Experiment of the Month
Acid Rain
Use the Vernier Logger Pro and the pH probes to explore the consequences of
acid rain with your students! First, the students bubble their own breath through
distilled water to check the effect on pH…then they add drops of sulfuric
acid to samples of lake water, ocean water, distilled water and a pH7 buffer
solution to explore changes in acidity.
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| Part one of the Acid Rain Lab demonstrates the formation of carbonic acid where CO2 is bubbled through water. |
The software enables each lab group to print a graph showing all four data sets, and the natural buffering capacity of salt water is clearly demonstrated.
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. Melanie will
be attending a Susquehanna University workshop to learn the ins and outs of
this process.
Summer Workshop Scheduled for the Week of June 16, 2003
You will find an application form for the weeklong summer workshop attached
to this newsletter. The workshop will be open to 20 secondary science teachers
with preference given to those who had not attended last year’s weeklong
workshop. As per last year, there will be a stipend awarded to those who attend.
Spots will be filled on a first-come first-served basis for those who can commit
to the entire week. We have tentatively planned a mixture of chemistry and biology
experiments with a few physics experiments thrown in. Below is a tentative schedule,
which can always be altered, based upon the interests and needs of our teachers.
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