The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume VI Issue 4 December 2006
Director's Column
I would like to invite teachers to sign up for the SIM Winter Workshop on Thursday, January 4, 2007, at Susquehanna University Fisher Science Hall. Thursday, January 11, 2007, is the snow date for the workshop. A sign up sheet is provided with this newsletter. This is a one-day hands-on workshop geared as a refresher course for teachers currently using SIM, but new teachers are also welcome to attend. SIM will reimburse your school district for a one-day substitute teacher and award you Act 48 credit for the workshop. The workshop will run from 9am to 4pm with lunch and snacks provided. If you are interested, please sign up soon since space is limited to twenty-five teachers!
I also wanted to remind teachers
that as of November 22nd, SIM is accepting Reservation Forms for spring
semester visits and equipment loans. Please submit your forms early
as schedules fill up very quickly.
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
Fall in Central Pennsylvania has been simply delightful! The Biology van has crossed the region many times in the fall sunshine. Al Zelnick’s students at Line Mountain High School demonstrated the Limitations on Cell Size using the Vernier Conductivity probes and the agar block model cell. At Selinsgrove High School, AP biology students taught by Paulette Armbruster performed pGLO: Bacterial Transformation (an AP lab) with “glowing” results. I visited the classroom for the transformation process and the students made observations and calculations of transformation efficiency the next day with Mrs. Armbruster. My next stop was Milton High School with students of Jocelyn Bailey and Kathy Bower as they looked at several variables in Investigating Enzyme Activity using catalase from potatoes and the Vernier gas pressure sensors. Each lab group investigated their assigned variable and shared information the next day with their classmates. Hughesville Junior-Senior High School students of Trish Edson looked at blood typing in the lab Transfusion Confusion. This is a good introduction to blood typing using simulated blood and antibodies. October ended at Berwick High School with AP students taught by Allison Spencer investigating Effect of Temperature on Poikiotherms (or Cricket Respiration). The time available gave each lab team the opportunity to investigate the effect of cold and warm temperature on respiration rates as measured by the rate of changes in carbon dioxide production. AP students at Milton High School taught by Karen Avery used the same CO2 gas sensors to perform the traditional AP Cellular Respiration lab using germinating peas under different temperature conditions. Honors Biology students at Lewisburg High School focused on pH and temperature changes in their Investigation of Enzyme Activity. Teacher Geoff Goodenow along with his student teacher used this lab as a culminating activity in their study of enzymes. New SIM user Donna Wood at Bloomsburg High School requested the Gram Stain Bacteria Lab. This lab helps students learn lab technique as well as to observe the bacteria using the SIM scopes. The Digital Microscopes were the tool for students of John Slotterback at North Schuylkill Junior-Senior High School. Classes observed organisms found in several pond water samples and, with patience, captured amazing images. Ninth grade biology students at Mt. Carmel Junior-Senior High School under the guidance of Angela Farronato used laundry detergents with and without enzymes to attempt removal of grass stain from fabric in their class discussion of enzymes. After a schedule change, my trip to Tri-Valley Junior-Senior High School was a full day with Life Science and Academic Biology students taught by Pam Ulicny. Life Science students looked at the effect of temperature on the respiration rate of cold-blooded organisms in Cricket Respiration and the tenth grade biology students looked at the effect of pH, detergents, and salt solutions on the membranes in beet cubes in Biological Membranes. The cricket respiration lab provided an introduction to data collection with sensors and computers for the Life Science students as well as the excitement of working with the crickets. The tenth grade bio students were introduced to spectroscopy as they measured the absorbance of the test solutions exposed to the beet cubes. Calibration of the equipment is an important element in this lab. Finally, I returned to Milton High School and Karen Avery’s AP class with AP lab Photosynthesis and Pigment Chromatography. The Vernier colorimeters were used again in this lab to monitor the photosynthesis reaction in a chloroplast suspension using the reduction of DPIP. In addition, the students performed paper chromatography on the pigments from the plant leaves.
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Students at Lewisburg High School investigate the |
Image of a rotifer as captured by North Schuylkill students using the digital microscopes. |
Teachers are also taking advantage of Science in Motion equipment through equipment loans. Kirk Seesholtz from Millville High School borrowed equipment and materials for the Yeast Respiration laboratory and Al Zelnick from Line Mountain High School borrowed Investigating Enzyme Activity. Angela Farronato borrowed the SIM light microscopes for the Anatomy classes at Mt. Carmel High School. Gary Stair and his student teacher at Berwick High School borrowed Limitations on Cell Size. Bo Meyer at Williamsport High School again borrowed the digital microscopes for his classes. Jim Terwilliger of Meadowbrook Christian School borrowed Energy in Foods for his students. Finally, Milton High School teachers Jocelyn Bailey and Kathy Bower borrowed human physiology sensors and computers.
Before Thanksgiving break I was fortunate to join many local teachers at the Biotechnology Workshop at Lycoming College focusing on Emerging Diseases. This day with colleagues was quite a worthwhile experience. I will also be attending the PSTA convention at Hershey as part of the Science in Motion consortium. I am now working on the spring visit/equipment loan schedule. I will be confirming reservation requests by early December. Thanks for a productive first semester with Science in Motion!
Jaclyn Basgil, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…
I began November by visiting Jocelyn Bailey’s chemistry students at Milton High School. We performed the lab Acid Rain in which students generate three gaseous oxides to simulate the formation of acid rain. The students measure the pH of the three resulting solutions and compare their strengths. Jocelyn also had her students perform the labs Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions and Energy of Foods this month. Karen Avery also of Milton High School put SIM’s GPS units to use in her classes. Next I visited the chemistry students of Ralph Smith at Jersey Shore High School. This month we did our Analysis of Organic Liquids lab utilizing the FTIR’s. Brett Criswell of Central Columbia borrowed our gas chromatographs once again to analyze alcohols with his chemistry classes. I spent some time with the physics students of Wayne Creasy at CMVTS for two days performing two sound wave labs. The students analyzed sound properties such as period, frequency and amplitude while creating beats and examining cell phones in labs Sound Waves and Beats and Tones, Vowels, and Telephones. Erica Merriett’s chemistry classes at Danville High School looked for trans fats found in various food items in the lab FTIR Analysis of Fatty Acids. Student teacher, Lauren Bricker, of Warrior Run High School borrowed SIM’s CSI equipment for her class to perform a full week of forensic analysis experiments in our Chemistry Crime Scene. The students performed an array of experiments such as infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography, fabric analysis and visible spectroscopy to try to determine the innocence of their assigned suspect. Karen Ramm of Jersey Shore High School was the first teacher to try out our new software Starry Night High School. You can read more about this software in the newsletter’s experiment of the month section.
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Jocelyn Bailey's students at Milton High School measure pH |
Wayne Creasy's physics students at CMVTS observe beats between the sounds of two tuning forks. |
I visited Gary Stair of Berwick High School for the first time to show his students the various liquid nitrogen demonstrations. Next it was off to the classes of Sheila Furr at Shikellamy High School where students performed the Analysis of Organic Liquids lab using the FTIR’s. Sheila also did many of our radiation labs such as Radiation Shielding and Half-Life as well as Energy of Foods and Evaporation and Intermolecular Attractions with her classes this month. Lisa Strouse of Hughesville High School did the lab Picket Fence Free Fall with her physics students. Mark Peterman new to Loyalsock Township High School did the lab Bungee Jump Accelerations with his physics students. Brett Criswell borrowed our FTIR’s to analyze orange and lemon oils with his chemistry students. Muncy High School’s Robin Peterman allowed SIM into her classes as we performed an analysis of alcohols using our popular gas chromatographs.
You can begin to send in your reservation forms for the spring semester now! Many of you are beginning to request drop-off’s as you become well-rehearsed and familiar with our labs. Due to limited computers, you’ll want to get those reservation forms in soon to ensure you reserve the equipment. Feel free to e-mail me about any specific days or labs.
Greg Stout, Mobile Educator Says...
In the month of November we continued our CBC funded water quality monitoring program with visits to six different streams. Visits were made to Shamokin Creek, Shikellamy High School - Sheila Furr, Middle Creek, Selinsgrove High School - Tracy Hepner, Little Mahanoy Creek, North Schuylkill High School - John Slotterback and Lost Creek, Juniata High School - Dan Smith in the first two weeks of the month. Later in November, visits were made to Limestone Run, Milton High School - Karen Avery and Fishing Creek, Bloomsburg High School - Doug VanBrunt. Students from these High Schools conducted temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and flow rate measurements on site. They also collected water samples for inorganic analyses by the PA DEP laboratory in Harrisburg.
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Greg Stout, SIM, and North Schuylkill High School students at |
Milton High School students conducting Acids and Buffers lab. |
Regular SIM visits included a trip to Milton High School with Karen Avery and her students. Those classes worked on an Acids and Buffers Labs in which we looked at the effect of acid on different buffered and non-buffered liquids. This allowed us to introduce the concept of enzymes and how they work. Another visit occurred later in the month at Tri-Valley High School working with Pam Ulicny’s students. Following the same concept, we looked at the effects of pH, substrate concentration, and temperature on an enzyme (catalase) extracted from potato homogenate.
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday I attended the 2006 Biotechnology Workshop: Emerging Diseases at Lycoming College. In addition to participating in four workshops there, I also had the privilege of meeting some new teachers and explaining to them what SIM is all about.
Physics Experiment of the Month
Starry Night
The physics experiment of the month features our new astronomy software Starry Night High School. This stunningly realistic software makes it easy to bring the universe into your very own classroom. The software is accompanied by a guide that offers step-by-step exercises, activities, extensions and resources to cover any astronomy lesson. There are also “Click-On” preset activities and explorations for your students to learn through. They are all ready to help you meet your astronomy curriculum guidelines as they immerse your students into the wonders of our universe.
It may be difficult to teach many astronomy concepts in the classroom atmosphere. We all know that changes in the sky happen slowly. The sky is enormous, distant and filled with mysterious objects. The sky can seem unfamiliar and inaccessible. Starry Night allows you to manipulate the sky so that you can see anything and travel anywhere. It also allows you to turn and look at the sky from a different angle, speed up the rotation of the planets through the constellations, make an eclipse happen, or travel to Mars. Starry Night allows you to travel back through time or move forward through it.
When students step outside after
using Starry Night they will have a better understanding of what
they see. All you will need is the laptop with the software and a projected
image for your students to observe. Interested teachers can e-mail me to be
mailed a copy of the lesson plan outline. You can also schedule a two-week
drop period to review the software and all of its components.
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 570-372-4779.
Courtney
Thomas
Director, Science in Motion
570-372-4778
thomasc@susqu.edu
