The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume VII Issue 2 October 2007
Director's Column
Just a reminder that on Monday, October 15, 2007, SU-SIM will host a session for the CSIU Common In Service Day at Susquehanna University. Mike McDevitt will lead sessions on nuclear chemistry, energy in foods, as well as endothermic and exothermic reactions. You can register through the CSIU Web site (www.academypa.org/index.cfm?ProviderID=137) under Science/Environmental Ed.
The SIM Mole Day Dinner
will be held on Tuesday, October 23rd, at Susquehanna University.
The dinner will be held in the Apple Community Room, the
same location as last year. SIM Mobile Educators will have several pieces
of equipment on display. Come share in the science fellowship and fun! Invitations
will be sent out the first week of October. Please RSVP by October 12th. Each
teacher’s RSVP card will be entered into a drawing for a $100 certificate
for Vernier products ordered through SIM. You must be present during
the drawing at the Mole Day Dinner to win.
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
We are off to a running start for 2007-2008 with the Biology SIM van! My first visit for the new school year was to Central Columbia with Lee Ercolani and his Genetics class performing CSI– DNA Fingerprinting. This lab focusing on agarose gel electrophoresis was a great kick off and interest builder for the group. Mt. Carmel was my next visit stop with Pam Hooper and her General Science students. This first visit introduced the students to the use of the computers and Vernier equipment with the lab Hot Hands found in Middle School Vernier lab manual. The students did a great job learning the laptops and discovering many ways to increase their palm temperatures recorded by the Vernier stainless steel temperature probe. At Bloomsburg High School AP Biology students taught by Jim Dodge learned about protein electrophoresis in the lab Something’s Fishy about Evolution. Fish proteins from 5 species are extracted and then separated using vertical polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Jim used the lab as part of his study of proteins as macromolecules and as a preview to evolution. Paulette Armbruster and her Biology and AP Biology students at Selinsgrove High School studied changes produced by substrate concentration, enzyme concentration, pH, temperature, and salt concentration on catalase in the lab Investigating Enzymes.
I have also been quite busy with equipment loans. Jennifer Barnhart of Jersey Shore High School borrowed the digital microscopes for her Anatomy/Physiology classes as a review of the microscope and for a lab on homeostasis. The digital scopes went directly to Laura Toth of East Juniata for her Biology classes. Jeremy Lauver of Lewisburg High School borrowed computers and Vernier Dissolved Oxygen probes for the Primary Productivity AP Biology lab. Al Zelnick of Line Mountain borrowed computers and materials for the lab Investigating Enzymes. At Shikellamy High School, Jen Gurski borrowed materials for the lab Enzymatic Activity in Laundry Detergents. Finally, Joshua Greene of Bloomsburg Christian School borrowed Energy in Foods and Limitations on Cell Size for his Biology students. As you can see the Bio van has logged many miles already for visits and equipment loans!
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Central Columbia High School's Genetics Class |
Students at Bloomsburg High School |
I have been spending lots of time working on the visit and loan calendar as I begin this new school year. Visits have been scheduled for the first semester. This schedule is already very full, as reflected by my message in the available days on the SIM Web site. If you are trying to schedule a visit for first semester, email me with your requested date as I may have an opening due to schedule changes but please understand that my calendar openings are limited. Equipment loans are available but please email as soon as you have a definite date planned so that I may put the equipment on reserve for you. Visits and loans for the second semester will be scheduled beginning in late November.
Science in Motion mobile educators
from across the state met for 2 days the beginning of September for our annual
Sharing Workshop. This event gives us opportunities to network with our SIM
colleagues and to share new and updated labs that our individual sites may
have in various stages of development. We also participated in a safety workshop
and learned of information from the pilot assessment data that some of your
classes may have participated in. This time is valuable and has provided me
with several new ideas that I hope to add to our SU SIM offerings.
Jaclyn Basgil, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…
Welcome back everyone! I hope your school year is off to a great start. We are getting very busy at SIM so be sure to get your reservation forms in as soon as possible.
I began the school year by visiting Sheila Furr at Shikellamy High School with our Gas Chromatographs, Fourier Transform Infrared spectrophotometers and the Chemistry Crime Scene. Sheila’s chemistry students experimented to determine the alcohols in various solutions using the GC’s. They used the FTIR’s to examine organic compounds using Infrared Spectroscopy. 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. Lawrence Flint’s physics students at Williamsport High School experimented with our Vernier motion detectors, tracks and photogates. His students also used our newly purchased digital camera’s to capture live footage as they performed experiments. With LoggerPro software and the digital camera’s they can add video synchronized with the data they collect. Mike McDevitt, Deborah Slattery and Erica Merriett at Danville High School borrowed our GC’s also to analyze the alcohols in solutions. Deborah Slattery also borrowed our High Performance Liquid Chromatographs which allow her chemistry students to analyze the caffeine content of coke, diet coke, sprite and mountain dew. Brandon White of Danville High School borrowed our Vernier motion detectors and oscillating springs to experiment with Hooke’s Law in his physics classes. Joshua Greene’s students at Bloomsburg Christian High School performed the lab Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions. His students observed and took temperature readings for the reactions between citric acid and baking soda as well as hydrochloric acid and magnesium. They also performed the lab Freezing and Melting of Water where they determine the relationship between the freezing and melting temperatures of water by collecting and analyzing temperature data. The GC’s made a final appearance this month at Hughesville High School to visit the chemistry classes of John Tamblin.
Check out our Web site to find available
days as well as the equipment list and available labs. We continue to update
these pages as things change. I anticipate working with many of you again
and good luck with this school year.
Greg Stout, Mobile Educator Says...
My school year started out with two visits with Shikellamy High School the last week of August. On the 28th, I visited Sheila Furr’s Honor’s Chemistry classroom and gave a demonstration on equipment used in our Chesapeake Bay Commission (CBC) funded water quality monitoring program. Classroom time was also devoted to hands-on use of this equipment. Two days later, seven of those twenty-three students joined us at Shamokin Creek for our first stream visit. Students conducted five analyses on-site and collected stream samples for shipment to the PA Department of Environmental Protection. DEP will perform 10 additional inorganic analyze on these samples.
On September 12th, I facilitated two additional CBC/SIM stream visits. In the morning we met Mary Dahlmann’s Shikellamy High School students and performed our first survey of Little Shamokin Creek. That afternoon, I met Greg Laubach and his Central Columbia High School students at Ten Mile Run where we performed our analyses and collected additional water samples.
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| Shikellamy High School students conduct Flow Rate measurements at |
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On September 13th, I traveled to Sunbury Christian Academy and gave another CBC/SIM equipment demonstration to John Hernandez’s Ecology class. On September 19th, that same class performed its first stream survey of Lithia Springs Creek, which is located on school property. That afternoon, I met with teacher Joshua Greene and his Bloomsburg Christian School students for a trip to Little Fishing Creek. Those students performed Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Conductivity, temperature and flow rate measurements on-site and collected water samples for shipment to the PA-DEP.
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| SIM Mobile Educator, Greg Stout, demonstrates use of |
Now that my CBC Water Quality Program
visits have been finalized, I am now able to start scheduling regular SIM
visits to your schools. In addition to facilitating Environmental or Ecology
labs, I am also available to conduct Biology Labs (Madge’s schedule
is maxed out!). Please submit a reservation form if I can help you in any
of these areas.
Experiment of the Month
Vernier Water Quality Index
This month’s experiment features the Water Quality Index as found in Vernier’s Water Quality with Computers Manual. The index uses the first nine tests found in the Manual to determine a stream’s water quality. Analyses are conducted and their results are indexed to a “Q-Value”. This value is then multiplied by a weighting factor to determine a quality
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| Vernier Turbidity Sensor |
value for each measurement. These
values are then added together to generate a “score” which is
correlated to a water quality index. Based on the score, a stream would be
rated anywhere from very poor to excellent. In order to also provide a simplified
and shorter one day lab, we have modified this index to allow for only four
analyses. Measurements included in this lab are pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrates
and Turbidity. Although the fewer number of tests give a theoretically decreased
sensitivity, this is still an excellent way to teach students concepts related
to Water Quality.
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
