The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume VI Issue 1 September 2006
Director's Column
Thankfully our local legislators have included funding for the Science in Motion program in the 2006-2007 state budget signed by the governor on July 2, 2006. Senator John Gordner informed me that SIM funding has been increased to $2.27 million this year from $2 million last year. We are still waiting to see how the additional funds will be distributed, but we are thrilled to be able to continue serving the needs of secondary science teachers in the Susquehanna Valley.
During the 2005-2006 school year, Science in Motion Mobile Educators made 771 visits and 359 equipment loans with a total of 22,156 student contacts. SIM served 25 schools, 64 teachers and performed 94 different types of experiments, with many experiments repeated numerous times. We supported 13 independent student projects as well as a student training session. All of these numbers are increases over 2004-2005 that we accomplished without an increase in state funding. Also, we have been supporting three disciplines on a budget inadequate for two disciplines. Imagine what we could do if we were fully funded!
This summer has been busy for SIM staff. June 12 to June 16 was the Science in Motion Summer Workshop at Susquehanna University. Twenty-eight teachers representing eighteen school districts attended the workshop. We were excited to have many new teachers in attendance. Biology, chemistry and physics sessions ran concurrently including a trip to Knoebels and Crime Scene Day.
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Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator, assists teachers |
Greg Stout, SIM Mobile Educator, assists in Water Quality Workshop training. |
June 20 and 21 was the SIM-SRBC Water Quality Workshop at Susquehanna University. This workshop trained teachers participating in our Chesapeake Bay Commission funded water quality monitoring project. Five teachers attended the workshop representing five school districts. This year’s participants in the project include teachers from Bloomsburg, Central Columbia, Juniata, Milton, North Schuylkill, Selinsgrove, and Shikellamy High Schools.
The remainder of the summer has been spent preparing equipment, mostly laptops, for use by teachers during the 2006-2007 school year, adapting lab protocols, designing new experiments, implementing a new inventory system, and learning to use new equipment ordered per teacher request. Everyone at SIM looks forward to another exciting year advancing science education!
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
The Science in Motion Summer Workshop held in June was outstanding. Our teachers were hard working and enthusiastic and I, for one, learned a lot! Biology participants worked through popular labs on Photosynthesis, Respiration, and the ever messy but fun Energy in Foods. We performed both agarose gel and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis from beginning to end. Dan Smith from Juniata High School led us in working with the digital microscopes. Lewisburg High School biology teacher Geoff Goodenow shared his expertise with molecular models focusing particularly on an amino acid starter kit which allows students to explore the shape and chemical properties of the 20 amino acid side chains with foam models. The goal is to promote understanding of protein structure through the amino acid side chains, giving a basic knowledge of the laws that determine protein folding. Six of these kits will be available in the fall for loan from SIM. In addition the bio workshop group piloted a new PCR lab testing for Genetically Modified Products and continued to work on physiological tests at Knoebel’s. Several teachers worked on experiments from the Human Physiology lab manual, including labs using the surface temperature sensor and the new spirometer, and a neuromuscular reflex lab using an accelerometer and the EKG sensor. All in all it was a very productive week!
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Workshop teachers try out the amino acid model kit. |
Kathy Bower, Milton High School, preparing the respiration monitor for measurements on a ride at Knoebels. |
This summer we added a few additional
pieces of equipment to the Science in Motion inventory. We will have 4 spirometers
available for use on a visit or loan. There are four labs in the Vernier Human
Physiology lab manual using this sensor. Also purchased were an additional
thermal cycler for the PCR labs and additional gel boxes and power supplies
for agarose gel electrophoresis. We are excited to implement our new SIMventory
program that will make the scheduling of equipment easier for the MEs. Speaking
of scheduling, remember that we are now taking reservations for visits and
loans for the first semester. If you were a workshop
participant, watch for an email from me listing your date requests. Remember
that all reservations require a completed reservation form available on-line
(look under Services). The form has changed slightly to give us the information
we need to better serve you! The school year will be here before we know it!
Enjoy what remains of summer! I look forward to another productive year at
Science in Motion!
Jaclyn Basgil, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…
The school year is quickly approaching. If you’d like to use SIM this year, I’d recommend sending in your reservation forms as soon as possible.
I spent the remainder of this past school year finishing my last few visits. Mike McDevitt of Danville High School used Science in Motion’s Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometers at the end of the year in his chemistry classes to perform organic analysis of liquids. His students were able to determine and identity unknown samples by comparing the wave numbers of their peaks in the spectrum produced to a table of known values. I then took the FTIR’s to visit Todd Davis at Bloomsburg High School. Matt Eisley of South Williamsport requested our liquid nitrogen demonstration once again. Lastly, I visited Tracy Hepner’s students at Selinsgrove High School. We performed the physics lab Pressures Underfoot where students examine their foot pressure while standing and while walking. The Novell Pressure Plate Platform is used along with our Vernier force sensors and forensic ink to investigate pressure concepts in the lab. Students compare their average plantar pressure using body weight and foot area to more clearly demonstrate the pressure plate platform equipment.
I’d like to thank all of the teachers who made it a fun and intense week in the physics lab at our annual summer workshop. I hope you all, as I did, had fun and learned a lot. We experimented with our Vernier microphones on the first day. We (over, you might say)-analyzed the frequency and amplitude of various sounds. We experimented with sound waves and were able to create and observe beats produced from tuning forks, voices and a digital keyboard.
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Physics teachers attending the SIM Summer Workshop observe and |
Matt Shrader and Dave Evans determine frequency patterns used in musical scales. |
We also visited Knoebel’s Amusement Park during the workshop. With the assistance of Mark Peterman from Montgomery Area High School, we all had fun performing the experiments in the Knoebel’s Physics Day packet. We also spent some time during the week toying with the idea of a physics crime scene. I’ll explain more about this in this month’s experiment of the month.
Take a look at our Web site to find available days as well as new equipment we have purchased for your classes. I ordered a new set of Motion detectors for those of you worried about their availability.
I look forward to working with many
of you again this year!
Greg Stout, Mobile Educator Says...
Wow, where has the summer gone! Much of June was spent preparing for, conducting and following up on the two SIM workshops that Dr. Thomas mentions in this columns’ introduction. I enjoyed meeting many new teachers during the weeklong Summer Workshop and enjoyed facilitating the water quality experiments conducted that Wednesday at Knoebel’s Amusement Park. This workshop is always a good opportunity to build both personal skills and professional relationships.
The very next week I had the opportunity at our second annual SIM-SRBC Water Quality workshop of presenting data and photographs from our 2005-2006 Chesapeake Bay Commission (CBC) funded water quality monitoring project. We appreciated the involvement of Juniata, Lewisburg, Montoursville, and Shikellamy High Schools in our first year with this program. We learned a lot together in the first year that we trust will only enhance our experience this year with both our returning and new high schools.
We also appreciate the Susquehanna River Basin Commission’s (SRBC) ongoing commitment to this workshop/program and lending their considerable experience to us in the way of training and support. I enjoyed spending time in the stream at this workshop with Jen Hoffman, Kevin McGonigal and Darryl Sittlinger and “picking their brains” on both chemical and biological (macro invertebrates) aspects of water quality. We are pleased that we have doubled the number of teachers from last year and look forward to a productive year in the streams throughout Central Pennsylvania this coming fall and winter.
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Stout, SIM, facilitates water quality experiments performed |
Teachers conduct a stream visit during the SIM/SRBC Water Quality Workshop. |
Computers are set up at Science in Motion in order for the ghosting process to be completed. |
I also had the privilege on July 1, 2006, to man a SIM booth at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) Expedition Susquehanna, Connecting Communities to Creeks Watershed Expedition at the Shikellamy State Park. This was just one stop for students paddling from the Susquehanna’s headwaters in Cooperstown, NY through Pennsylvania to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Photographs and data from our first year program were exhibited and it was truly rewarding to have one of the participating students (canoeist) recognize pictures of fellow high school students/teachers and enter into a dialogue with her about water quality in local tributaries.
Finally, a considerable chunk of
my time this summer was spent preparing laptops for use by teachers for the
upcoming school year. This involves looking for existing or potential software
or hardware problems with each unit and deciding how best to correct that
problem. Additionally, these notebook computers then need to be “ghosted”
- a process in which up to 24 notebooks can be connected to a network, have
their hard drives formatted and a “clean image” restored to the
hard drive. This process is our best attempt to start off the school year
with a clean slate and providing reliable laptops to you.
Physics Experiment of the Month
Physics Crime Scene
This month’s featured lab is an experiment still in progress. It has yet to be classroom tested. I encourage interested physics teachers to take a look at the lab. The equipment can be delivered to try the lab as is or borrowed to be used as an experimentation process with students.
We began to work on the idea of a physics crime scene at this year’s summer workshop. We spent a great deal of the morning brainstorming which led to two different storylines. One was a robbery at a fast food restaurant and the other involved an accident at a construction site. Two groups worked all day trying different methods and scenarios and experimenting with various materials. At the end of the day, one thing was clear; one day was not nearly enough to get a crime scene up and running!
A large portion of this summer was spent attempting to get something out of all this work. Krishna Chowdary, who teaches physics at Bucknell University, spent many hours at SIM this summer as we worked through the experimentation process.
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Physics teachers brainstorm physics crime scene scenarios. |
The crime scene lab that has evolved is called “The Case of the Clumsy Construction Worker.” An injured worker claims that another worker deliberately pushed a toolbox from the top of a roof in an effort to hurt him. The accused worker claims that the toolbox merely slid down the roof while he wasn’t looking. The task for the students is to build a scale model of the roof and to convince their lieutenant that they can accurately simulate the crime scene in lab. To do this, the students will measure the acceleration of a metal box. They will determine any effects of sliding distance and mass on the acceleration of the box. Using the Motion Detector, they can measure the position and velocity of the box as it slides along the roof. The acceleration can then be determined from the velocity vs. time graph. They can use this information and their knowledge of projectile motion to determine if the toolbox was pushed or merely fell from the roof top.
This lab would be an educational and fun addition to a typical projectile motion unit. Students should be enrolled or already through the trigonometry level of math and familiar with the ideas of and the math associated with projectile motion. Please contact me as soon as possible if you would like to find out more about the physics crime scene.
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
