The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume VI Issue 8 April 2007
Director's Column
It is time to sign up for the SIM Summer Workshop. The workshop will be June 11 through June 15, 2007, at Susquehanna University Fisher Science Hall. You will find a registration form in this newsletter. Please remember to register early to ensure your place in the workshop as slots fill up very quickly!
In anticipation of continued funding for the SIM SRBC Water Quality Project funded by the Chesapeake Bay Commission, I invite high school science teachers interested in participating to contact me at thomasc@susqu.edu. This is an opportunity for students to learn professional data collection techniques while contributing to the health of the local watersheds and the Chesapeake Bay. We ask that teachers commit to six streamside visits during the 2007-2008 school year. SIM will reimburse school districts for half-day substitute teachers and travel costs. We are planning a training workshop for Monday June 18 and Tuesday June 19, 2007, at Susquehanna University. Only eight teachers will be accepted to participate, so contact me right away if you are interested.
On February 28th, I joined Jaclyn Basgil at Bloomsburg High School for Mr. Jim Perry’s classes. Students performed the experiment Testing the Effectiveness of Sunscreens using the UV-VIS Spectrophotometers. They enjoyed determining which UV rays (UVA, UVB or UVC) were blocked by various SPF levels of commercially available sunscreens.
On March 2nd, I attended a PERA (Pennsylvania Educational Research Association) Workshop in Reading, PA. The topic was “Improving Achievement in Mathematics and Science.” Dr. Steven Dear, PDE Science Advisor, presented strategies to improve achievement in science. One of his strongest suggestions was to incorporate inquiry into the science classroom. This is necessary for all science teachers since the science PSSA is 50% inquiry! Science in Motion has brought inquiry into every classroom visited by giving students hands on learning opportunities with scientific instrumentation. This is just one more reason for the state to continue funding the SIM program. Please feel free to incorporate this need into your letters written to legislators and the Governor.
Please continue sending SIM a copy of letters sent to legislators and Governor Rendell. The more letters legislators receive, the better our chances of obtaining funding for 2007-2008!
On March 14th, I accompanied Greg Stout to Ms. Karen Avery’s AP Biology class at Milton High School. The students performed both the Bacterial Sensitivity and the Gram Stain experiments. Everyone worked very hard to complete both experiments and even stayed late to finish.
I am pleased to announce the receipt
of chemistry equipment and instrumentation from ConAgra Foods
in Milton, PA! ConAgra Foods generous donation to Susquehanna University and
the Science in Motion program will enhance the educational experience of SU
students as well as high school science students served by SIM. To read more
about the donation, please visit the SIM Web site.
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
Old man winter has, hopefully, given us the last snow days of the season! Following one snow delay Paulette Armbruster’s AP Biology classes at Selinsgrove High School were able to complete the AP lab # 12, Primary Productivity, using the Vernier Dissolved Oxygen probes and computers to measure oxygen production by Chlorella cultures through the light and dark bottle method. Students then calculated gross and net productivity values and considered the effects of light intensity on these values. Next the Environmental Science class at Tri-Valley Junior/Senior High School taught by Pam Ulicny looked at bacteria stained by the Gram Stain method. On the same visit, the academic biology class extracted proteins and analyzed them through polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the lab Protein Fingerprinting: Something Fishy about Evolution? My next stop was to Danville High School with Sonia Crane and her AP Biology classes doing AP lab #6. On day one students did the pGLO: Bacterial Transformation lab and day two, they used agarose gel electrophoresis to do the second part of the lab – Electrophoresis of Restriction Digests of Lambda DNA. During the running of the gels the class analyzed results from the transformation and considered the reasons behind the observation of glowing bacteria. Biology students at Lewisburg High School used the Vernier materials to study the effect of pH and temperature in Investigating Enzyme Activity. Jeremy Lauver and Geoff Goodenow coordinated efforts to bring this lab to both sets of classes on sequential days. Thanks! Crime Scene Investigation was the theme for a three day visit to Line Mountain High School with teacher Al Zelnick. Students from all the biology classes investigated the murder of biology teacher Edward Coli through fingerprint and hair analysis, blood typing, and DNA fingerprinting. Our investigation was interrupted by a mid week snow storm that closed school but the students worked hard to finish their tests by the end of the week and Mr. Zelnick used the beginning of the next week to pull all the data together to come to a conclusion. Human physiology students at North Schuylkill Junior/Senior High School looked at EKG and Heart Rate and Exercise using the Vernier EKG sensors and the hand grip heart rate monitors. The teams worked together well to obtain a tracing for each student showing the changes in their individual heart rate as they changed position and challenged themselves with exercise. Teachers Kelly Boyer and MaryBeth Segrue used this activity in the introduction to their study of the cardiovascular system. The AP Biology students from Berwick High School taught by Allison Spencer also worked through the Heart Rate and Exercise the next day. Advanced Biology students from Lewisburg High School focused on the theory and technique of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of proteins as they worked through Protein Fingerprinting: Something Fishy about Evolution? as an application of this useful biochemical tool. The block schedule allowed students to do their protein extractions and assemble their own gel apparatus in preparation for the electrophoresis of the proteins. Thanks to teacher Geoff Goodenow for giving students time ahead of the lab day to practice the use of the micropipettes. Destaining of the gels showed very nice results!
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| Tri-Valley students load one fish protein sample in the vertical |
Danville students
carefully load a restriction digest of DNA onto an agarose gel to separate the fragments through electrophoresis. |
Bo Meyer from Williamsport High School borrowed a GPS unit to design a lab, laptops for the digital microscopes for a study of bacterial classification as well as the materials for the pGLO Bacterial Transformation lab. Donna Wood of Bloomsburg High School borrowed the computers, hand dynamometers, and surface temperature probes for her Honors Biology student labs. Remember that equipment loans are still a possibility if you are trying to include a SIM lab in your biology classes. I would like to thank the teachers for flexibility as we have managed to reschedule or compress the visit labs that have been missed through this snowy few weeks. I, for one, will be happy to see the coming of spring!
Jaclyn Basgil, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…
The visits for the month of March began at Bloomsburg High School where I taught the chemistry students of Jim Perry concepts related to our ultraviolet and visible range spectrophotometers. The students used the Spec 20’s to obtain absorbance readings for different SPF levels of sunscreens. The students were able to determine the most effective sunscreen solution. Next, I went to Milton High School to visit the classes of Jocelyn Bailey. She brought SIM into her physics classes to perform the lab Graph Matching. The students used our Vernier Motion detectors to analyze and graph their own movement. They predicted and tested position vs. time as well as velocity vs. time graphs. I was then off to spend the week at Line Mountain High School while the chemistry students of John Traver performed our Chemistry Crime Scene. The 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. John Tamblin used SIM this month to introduce radiation concepts to his Hughesville High School chemistry students. His students used our Vernier radiation counters to study how radiation emitted by a beta source is absorbed by increasing layers of cardboard in the lab Radiation Shielding. They also performed the lab Alpha, Beta, and Gamma where students use a Vernier radiation counter to measure the absorption of the radiation by air, paper and aluminum. Brian Landis’ students at Mifflinburg High School performed the lab Acid Dissociation Constant, Ka, this month. His students utilized our Vernier pH probes to experimentally determine the dissociation constant of acetic acid. His students also used our Vernier Gas Pressure sensors to perform experiments with his classes. Selinsgrove High School’s Kevin Horton borrowed our colorimeters this month. His chemistry classes performed Beers Law which utilizes our Vernier colorimeters to measure the absorbance value of various solutions. Brett Criswell put our popular FTIR’s to use this month in his Central Columbia High School classes. His students used the FTIR’s to examine organic compounds using Infrared Spectroscopy. Shamokin AreaHigh School’s Victor Colangelo put our circuit boards, differential voltage probes and current probes
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| Bloomsburg students use the Spec 20's to determine the most |
Line Mountain students analyze the separated ink samples from performing paper chromatography. |
to use to allow his students to perform the physics lab Ohm’s Lab. The students determined the relationship between current, voltage and resistance in a circuit. Mark Peterman’s students at Loyalsock High School were introduced to our low-g accelerometers this month. South Williamsport’s Matt Eisley introduced our FTIR’s as well as our GC’s to his chemistry students this month. His students used the FTIR’s to determine the identity of unknown samples by comparing the wave-numbers of their peaks in the spectrum produced to a table of known values. They used the GC’s to analyze and determine the alcohol content in various solutions. Sue Steiner of Mt. Carmel High School borrowed a computer with the astronomy program Starry Night High School. She is using the program to help teach astronomy concepts to her classes. Danville High School’s Mike McDevitt used our UVB lamps and sensors in the lab UVB Sunscreens and Sunglasses. Erica Merriett used our equipment to perform Simple Machines. I spent the rest of the month with the students of Ernie Tyler at Sunbury Christian School. The students performed the Chemistry Crime Scene including the labs Melting Point, Paper Chromatography and Fiber Analysis. His students also observed various liquid nitrogen demonstrations. We did the physics lab Air Resistance where students determine how the terminal velocity of a falling coffee filter is affected by air resistance and by a change in mass. Lastly, the students performed the lab Momentum, Energy and Collisions where the student’s measure energy changes during elastic, inelastic and completely inelastic collisions. Feel free to e-mail me about any specific days or labs.
Greg Stout, Mobile Educator Says...
I am definitely crossing my fingers that the old saying ...if March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb... is true. I reported in February’s column that we postponed four scheduled stream visits with our Chesapeake Bay Commission funded water quality visits because of bad weather. Much to my dismay, March was even worse with five visits cancelled due to unsafe weather or stream conditions. That will now require a total reshuffling of stream visit dates with those teachers/schools that were affected. Since we only have ten weeks before the close of school, we have some very creative re-scheduling to accomplish. I have also been watching way, way too much of “The Weather Channel” as I search for the most opportune time to re-enter our selected streams and coordinate this with participating schools.
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| Selinsgrove High School students perform flow rate measurements and filter water from Middle Creek. |
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On the positive side, we were able to complete a visit with Tracy Hepner’s Selinsgrove High School students. On March the 13th we visited Middle Creek, just a short distance from both our office and Selinsgrove High School. It was extraordinarily warm for mid-March and a great day to be in stream, with water temperatures around 45° F. Flow rate, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and temperature measurements were conducted on-site as well as sampling of water to submit to the PA DEP laboratory for inorganic analyses.
On March 1st, I traveled to Bloomsburg Christian School (BCS) to meet with Joshua Greene and his students. We conducted a Bacterial Sensitivity lab in which students examined the effects of five antibiotics and five disinfectants on both gram positive (Bacillus subtilis) and gram negative (E. coli) organisms. That was immediately followed by a Gram Stain lab in which students were taught how to prepare smears of four different microorganisms, heat fix those slides and then perform the very basic, yet important gram stain. The cultures we prepared smears of, stained and observed microscopically, were Bacillus cereus, E. coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Aquaspirillum serpens.
Karen Avery’s AP Biology students also conducted both of these labs on a visit to Milton High School (MHS) on March 14th. These are good hands-on labs that not only teach the science but also help students learn manual dexterity and how to use brightfield microscopes. In both schools, students were able to observe the effects of bactericidal and bacteriostatic agents on different types of bacteria and were also able to learn how to differentiate microorganisms on the basis of both their gram stain and cellular morphology. This led to discussions on the beneficial effects of microbiological growth, job responsibilities in both clinical and industrial microbiology and recent food recalls due to unwanted growth of microbes in various food products. Examples of these included Salmonella in peanut butter and E. coli in mushrooms.
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| Gram Stain lab conducted by Bloomsburg Christian School students. |
If you are teaching microbiology
in any of your classes, you might also use the tragic and still developing
pet food recall to segway into a discussion of how growth of other organisms,
beside bacteria, impact Food Safety. The Food and Drug Administration says
contaminated dog food that was sold in 23 states has killed almost two dozen
dogs nationwide and sickened 18 others. In this case the culprit was Aflatoxin,
a naturally occurring chemical that comes from a fungus sometimes found on
corn and other crops, which can cause severe liver damage. Aflatoxin poisoning
can cause sluggishness, lack of appetite and in severe cases heavy vomiting,
fever and jaundice. Heart wrenching as they may be, these current events are
very powerful opportunities to introduce students to potential careers in
Food Science or in a wide array of health and life sciences.
Experiment of the Month
Digital Microscopy
Science in Motion offers a set of Boreal digital microscopes and a dedicated set of 6 laptop computers that utilize Motic software that can be a great learning tool for your classroom. Slides are viewed on the computer screen making it a great set-up for lab group participation and communication. Still images can be captured with the software and saved as jpg files that can then be used by students or teachers in written or PowerPoint presentations. The software has a measurement feature that will allow students to analyze many size parameters of the images. Video images can also be captured and reviewed again and again by students. The digital scopes have been used in the hair analysis for
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| North Schuylkill students search for organisms from pond water |
Image of a rotifer captured by North Schuylkill students using SIM digital microscopes. |
crime scene, to view slides prepared
in the human chromosome splat lab, as an introduction to microscopy, and to
survey and classify pond water samples or bacterial cultures. An SIM lab,
Observing and Measuring Plasmolysis of Elodea, is available. Lewisburg
teacher Geoff Goodenow modified that lab to use as an introduction
to many features of the digital microscopes. His version is also available
for SIM users. Juniata High School teacher Dan Smith
has provided instruction to teachers at our last two SIM workshops and has
had great success with using the digital scopes for student pond study projects.
Many teachers reserve the digital microscopes as a loan to give students time
to learn the software and to become comfortable with this type of microscopy.
Loan time slots are still available for the spring for digital microscopy.
