The Newsletter for Science in Motion at Susquehanna University

Volume IV Issue 7 April 2005

 

Director's Column

I am pleased to announce that Susquehanna University Science in Motion (SIM) and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) recently received a $50,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Commission (CBC) to engage secondary science students in real and meaningful data collection and reporting concerning the water quality status of contributing water supplies along the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries. This is a wonderful opportunity for area secondary science teachers to have their students learn employable skills such as water sampling techniques used by the SRBC. Since this is the first year of this project, a large portion of the grant will be devoted to purchasing equipment. However, there is funding for four area secondary science teachers to participate this year. We ask that teachers who participate in this program commit to collect samples every other month (September, November, January, March, May and July) for one year. This grant includes funds to reimburse school districts for half-day substitute teachers as well as transportation costs to and from the sampling site. All data collected will be posted on the SIM Web site to facilitate exchange and comparison. If you are interested in participating in this program, we have scheduled a training workshop on Monday, June 20th and Tuesday, June 21st at Susquehanna University Fisher Science Hall. Teachers attending this workshop will receive Act 48 credit as well as a $100/day stipend. Please contact me at thomasc@susqu.edu if you are interested in participating. Teachers will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

We received a wonderful response from teachers interested in our week long SIM Summer Workshop scheduled for Monday, June 13th to Friday, June 17th. The workshop is now full. We have twenty teachers registered for the workshop and several more on the waiting list. As always, teachers are never required to attend a SIM workshop to receive visits/drops from SIM. So if you didn’t make the cut for the workshop, don’t worry, the SIM mobile educators will still arrange to visit your classroom as often as possible.

 

Erica Merriett, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…

The schedule continues to stay quite busy here in the spring. Since the last newsletter, I have been doing many labs that I hadn’t had the opportunity to do yet. At the end of March, I was at Milton High School with Jocelyn Bailey’s Intro to Chemistry and Physics classes doing the Newton’s Second Law lab from the Physical Science book. It is a fun lab in which students use the motion detectors to measure the acceleration of cars that are being pulled by a hanging cup full of sand. The students really seemed to enjoy it, and it showed the concept quite well.

The last week in March was very busy with Matt Eisley’s classes at South Williamsport High School. The Chem II students did the Chemistry Crime Scene for the week, while the Chem I students did both the Boyles Law Lab and the Pressure-Temperature Relationship of Gases Lab using the gas pressure sensors. The Applied Chemistry class performed a modified version of the Gas Chromatography of Alcohols Lab in which they identified the alcohols present in various household materials. All in all, it was a busy, yet successful week!

At the beginning of April, I was off to Line Mountain High School to do the Boyle’s Law Lab with John Traver’s General and Applied Chemistry classes. It was a successful day, yet again. Later that week, I went with Madge to work on Crime Scene with Geoff Goodenow’s Advanced Biology class at Lewisburg High School. In addition to the normal Biology crime scene labs, we added the Gas Chromatography and Spectrophotometry of Kool-Aid components from the Chemistry Crime Scene.

Since then, it has been all physical science for me. I went back to Jocelyn Bailey’s Intro to Chemistry and Physics classes at Milton High School, and we did the Physical Science lab It’s Race Day. Before I arrived, the students built cars using paper or K’NEX kits. When I arrived, we set up ramps and the motion detectors, so the students could race their cars. After we were done, they had to determine the most efficient paper car and the most efficient Kinnex car. It was a lot of fun to see all the cars the students had built, they put a lot of effort into being creative.

Race Day at Milton High School

Colleen Ruths’ Principles of Technology class at Shikellamy was the first to use our new Vernier Microphones to perform the Sound Waves and Beats Lab. The lab uses the microphone to observe sound waves from tuning forks. The students are then able to calculate period and frequency of the notes.

Although there are a few miscellaneous labs coming up, the rest of the year will mostly consist of running the Chemistry Crime Scene at Danville, Shikellamy, and Southern Columbia. I will also be preparing for Capitol Day in Harrisburg on May 11th as well as the Summer Workshop, which I hope will be a fun and productive week for all of us.

 

Chemistry Experiment of the Month

Boyle’s Law

In this simple experiment, students are able to use the Vernier Gas Pressure sensors to examine the pressure volume relationship expressed in Boyle’s Law. Students use a plastic syringe to change the volume as the sensor measures the pressure. A graph is produced and the students have to determine if the relationship is direct or inverse and insert the curve that matches. They also use the computer to interpolate data, which enables them to observe how changing the volume will affect the pressure of the system. After they establish if it is a direct or inverse relationship, they calculate the constant (k). I find that gas laws are a difficult concept, because you can’t easily “see” what is happening. This lab does a great job of making the idea more tangible.

 

Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…

I am truly enjoying the warm sunshine and spring like conditions that have made my loading and travels so much easier this month! Since the last newsletter I have visited Shikellamy High School to bring the lab Respiration of Sugars by Yeast to Sheila Furr’s Biochemistry classes as part of their carbohydrates unit. At Shamokin High School Bob Hartman’s Anatomy and Physiology classes concluded their circulatory system

Bob Hartman's students at Shamokin High School investigate Energy in Foods.	Geoff Goodenow's advanced biology class at Lewisburg High School are challenged with the Biology Crime Scene.