The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume VI Issue 6 February 2007
Director's Column
In an effort to obtain assessment data to support SIM state funding renewal, we are implementing pre- and post-quizzes for some of our more popular experiments. The experiments include Analyzing the Heart with EKG, Energy of Foods, FTIR of Liquids, GC of Alcohols, pGLO, Photosynthesis and Respiration, Pressure Underfoot, Simple Machines, and Sound Waves and Beats. We have designed four question quizzes for each of these experiments and we will perform test runs of these quizzes beginning in February. If your class has been selected for a test run, the ME will inform you prior to the visit. Hopefully, we will be able to work out any potential problems and begin implementing these quizzes full time this fall.
I’d like to thank all of the teachers who have turned in SIM Mobile Lab Evaluations after a SIM visit. These evaluations are critical to improving SIM service. If you have yet to submit an evaluation for a SIM visit, please do so as soon as possible. If you have misplaced your form, please contact the ME or Melanie for a replacement.
Dates for spring
semester SIM visits and equipment loans are still available!
Please visit www.susqu.edu/sim. Click on “Services” followed by
“Available Dates”. You will see a list of the dates each mobile
educator is available. Please notice that Madge’s schedule is very full,
but Greg has many days available for biology visits or equipment loans. Jaclyn
also has several dates currently available. Thank you once again for using
SIM!
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
My first full week in January began at Central Columbia High School with Greg Laubach’s 9th grade Biology students working on the Vernier experiment Respiration in Yeast. In this lab the students test the ability of yeast to use several sugars as an energy source measuring respiration through the rate of change in the CO2 levels as measured by the CO2 gas sensor. Dana Hock kept the equipment and materials to use with his classes later in the week as a loan. The Respiration in Yeast lab was also performed by the Advanced Biology students at Lewisburg High School taught by Geoff Goodenow the following week. In addition this group performed tests with starch and gelatin to add to their understanding and thought concerning the types of organic materials metabolized by yeast. AP Biology classes at Shamokin High School taught by Bob Hartman and at Milton High School taught by Karen Avery completed AP lab #6 as they performed a Bacterial Transformation – pGLO lab and the Gel Electrophoresis of ? DNA Restriction Digests. Students were able to do their bacterial transformation one day and observe them the following day while running their agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA. The DNA gels stained overnight and were analyzed by students to determine the molecular sizes of the DNA fragments by creating a standard curve with known size fragments and then using the standard curve to approximate sizes of unknowns. Biology II students at Millville High School taught by Kirk Seesholtz also considered genetic engineering in doing the Bacterial Transformation – pGLO lab.
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| Karen Avery discusses electrophoresis with Milton AP Biology students. |
Jeremy Lauver from Lewisburg High School jumped right in to SIM use after attending the Winter Workshop by borrowing the colorimeters and computers to do What Chemicals Can Affect Biological Membranes? In addition he borrowed the pH probes and the materials for the biology and the chemistry Acid Rain labs. These two labs have different approaches to Acid Rain. In the biology lab, students study how the pH of water changes when CO2 is dissolved in water and the effect of sulfuric acid on the pH of water from various sources. In the chemistry lab, students observe the formation of four acids that occur in acid rain and compare their relative strengths by measuring pH. These Acid Rain labs were featured at the Winter Workshop. Al Zelnick from Line Mountain High School borrowed the CO2 gas sensors and computers to do the lab How Does Temperature Affect Poikilotherms? (Cricket Respiration) and Pam Ulicny of Tri-Valley Junior-Senior High School borrowed spec 20’s for her own lab protocol.
My visit schedule is quite full but please email if you would like to request a visit or drop. I do have changes that occur in the calendar as the semester goes on. We have a new Susquehanna University student assistant at SIM to help us a few hours a week with the prep work here in the office. I welcome Bekah Bennett to our team and am already grateful for her help! I look forward to a busy February!
Jaclyn Basgil, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…
I hope everyone’s New Year
is off to a wonderful start. It was fun working with those of you who could
attend the physics sessions of our winter workshop. I hope you enjoyed the
featured labs and learned more about our program and equipment. Central
Columbia’s Brett Criswell introduced radioactivity to his chemistry
students this month. They performed the labs Radiation Shielding and Half-Life.
Jack Deal’s physics students at Danville High
School used our dynamics tracks and carts to perform experiments
with momentum. Another Danville High School teacher, Brandon
White, used our LoggerPro interfaces to perform physics labs. Tracy
Hepner of Selinsgrove High School used our pH probes
and materials to perform Acid Rain with her chemistry students. The
lab has 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. I also visited the classes of Randy Moyer
at Selinsgrove High School. Students used our Fourier Transform
Infrared spectrophotometers to examine organic compounds using Infrared Spectroscopy.
I then headed back over to Selinsgrove High School to visit
the physical science classes of Tracy Hepner. The students
in her classes were asked to perform a pre-lab to determine any foot problems
that they were experiencing. In the lab, we compared the pre-lab findings
to the findings from the Pressures Underfoot lab. The students were
able to calculate their foot pressure while standing and while walking. They
calculated their individual foot area using our forensic ink and forensic
developing paper. They were also able to watch a virtual step as they walked
across our hi-tech Novel Foot Pressure Platforms. This is always a favored
lab with students!
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| Selinsgrove students show off their footprints made with |
Jocelyn Bailey's classes at Milton High School performed the lab Melting and Freezing Points this month. Her students collected temperature data during the freezing and melting of water using our Vernier temperature probes. They analyzed the data and graphs produced to determine the relationship between the two physical properties of water. Karen Avery of Milton High School also brought SIM to her students as they performed the lab Acid Rain. John Tamblin who just recently relocated to Hughesville High School used our Vernier motion detectors and photogates with his physics students to perform two different labs. His students did Ball Toss where they collect position, velocity, and acceleration data as a basketball travels straight up and down. They also performed Projectile Motion where they measure the velocity of a ball using two photogates. They can attempt to predict the impact point of the ball from this data using projectile motion kinematics. John was also the first SIM user to try our newly developed Video Analysis where students videotape themselves doing the experiment. They can then coordinate the lab graph generated through LoggerPro with their actual real-time video so they can watch what happened graphically as the lab progressed. It’s very interesting. I am waiting to hear back from John about his results. Brett Criswell also borrowed a UV-VIS spectrophotometer this month to perform a lab that he designed.
Available days are very limited for this semester. Be sure to send in your reservation forms as soon as possible. For those of you that are requesting drop-off’s as you become familiar with our labs, 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...
I started off my New Year with a trip to the Susquehanna River Basin Commissions’ (SRBC) headquarters in Harrisburg to observe Suspended Sediment Analyses of stream water samples. Darryl Sittlinger showed me how this analysis was performed and shared some of the nuances of their method. While there, I was able to process all 22 samples collected so far in this year‘s CBC/SRBC/SIM Stream Water Quality monitoring program. We are investigating performing this analysis on-site at our SIM office here at Susquehanna. Darryl will be retiring from the SRBC effective 2/9/07 (34 yrs of service) and his expertise will be sorely missed by this mobile educator. We wish Darryl the best in this new phase of his life.
The abundant rainfall of mid-January wreaked havoc with my schedule for stream visits. January 10th, Bloomsburg High School-Doug VanBrunt and January 17th, Selinsgrove High School-Tracy Hepner, visits were postponed because high water flow made conditions too dangerous for wading and sampling. By January 30, stream/weather conditions improved greatly and allowed Karen Avery’s Milton High School class to complete their scheduled survey (4th of 6).
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| Milton High School students conduct Energy from Fossil Fuels experiment. |
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On January 23rd, I traveled to Milton High School to work with Karen Avery’s Applied Biology/Chemistry II students. We conducted experiment 30, Energy from Fossil Fuels, from Vernier’s Earth Science with Computers workbook. In the last week of January, I visited Tri-Valley High School and worked with Pam Ulicney’s 10th grade Academic Biology class. We performed a bacterial sensitivity lab in which we measured the effects of various disinfectants and antibiotics on Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.
Please check our Web site for available dates that I have for visits or for drop-offs of equipment. I will be glad to work with you on any Environmental, Ecology or Biology labs that you are interested in.
Experiment of the Month
Rocketry with Science in Motion
