The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume V Issue 4 December 2005
Director's Column
On November 8th, we were very excited to receive a visit from Merck plant manager Justin Noll, site communications coordinator Betse Humphrey, and director of human resources Bob Murphy. Justin, Betse and Bob were excited to see the equipment purchased with the $76,000 grant from The Merck Company Foundation. The equipment on display included a FTIR, Mastercycler, Dell latitude laptop, Digital camcorder, Vernier circuit board, microphone, current probe and differential voltage probe. After a quick tour of our facilities, I shared the number of visits/loans (80) and student contacts (1790) with equipment purchased from the Merck grant for September through October 2005. Everyone was very impressed with the impact of the Science in Motion program on the community. I was very interested to hear from Justin about the Merck Institute for Science Education, a program that focuses on improving science education during the formative years of kindergarten through eighth grade. With generous support from Merck, Science in Motion is able to help improve secondary science education in our area.
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Betse Humphrey, Bob Murphy & Justin Noll, Merck and Courtney Thomas, Science in Motion. |
Just a reminder, if you have not signed up for the Science in Motion Winter Workshop on Thursday, January 5, 2006, please do so soon. We are especially interested in recruiting physics and physical science teachers to experiment with our wonderful new equipment! You can sign up by completing and mailing the form from the November newsletter or by calling Melanie at 570-372-4779.
This month’s winner of the Palm handheld is Al Zelnick from Line Mountain. Al was excited to be the third winner of the SIM reservation form drawing. Continue to submit your reservation forms to enter the monthly drawings.
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Al Zelnick, Line Mountain, was November's recipient of the Palm Handheld. |
As winter rapidly approaches, please remember to call the SIM mobile educators at 570-372-4780 as soon as you know classes are cancelled or if you have an altered bell schedule on a day when you have a SIM visit/drop scheduled.
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
The end of October brought the Mole Day Dinner on the same day as a first outing with some new Physiology probes at North Schuylkill Junior-Senior High with Kelly Boyer’s Anatomy and Physiology class. We tested two new Grip Strength labs with great success and lots of competition between the members of lab groups as they looked at grip strength and muscle fatigue. Lots of fun! Karen Avery’s classes at Milton High School investigated the buffering capacity of water, a potato homogenate, and a commercial buffer using the laptops and pH probes. The same day her Biology 2 class performed pGLO Bacterial Transformation. Moving to Shikellamy High School, Jen Gurski’s students looked at The Effect of Temperature on Poikiotherms with the popular cricket respiration lab. The groups did an outstanding job of investigation! Trish Edson’s seventh graders at Hughesville Junior-Senior High School learned about blood typing in the lab Transfusion Confusion. Finishing the month of October was a visit to Milton High School with the Bio 1 classes taught by Jocelyn Bailey and Kathy Bower using the gas pressure sensors and computers in Investigating Enzyme Activity. The enzyme lab stayed in the van as I worked with students at Tri-Valley with Pam Ulicny’s Academic Biology students, at Lewisburg High School with Geoff Goodenow’s Honors Biology classes, at Line Mountain High School with Al Zelnick’s AP Biology, Biology, and Applied Biology classes, and finally at Mt. Carmel High School with Angela Farronato’s biology classes. This lab gives clear results and has become a favorite! While visiting Tri-Valley, Greg Stout and I also worked with the Environmental Science classes taught by Pam Ulicny in an outdoor water quality lab at the school’s great environmental center using remote collection of data with the Vernier equipment. Another visit to Milton High School found me with Deb Kurtz’s students and Energy in Foods looking at the energy content of a variety of food products. Another multi-visit experiment in November was The Effect of Chemicals on Biological Membranes. A change of class schedule at Lourdes High School with Amy Mudry’s biology classes proved beneficial as we found a more time efficient way to present this lab! This lab uses the Vernier colorimeter as students study cell damage by a variety of chemicals using beet cubes and looking at absorbance reflecting pigment released by damaged cells. Jocelyn Bailey and Kathy Bower’s classes at Milton High School worked through this lab the next week, as did Pam Ulicny’s Academic Biology classes at Tri-Valley. Also at Milton these same classes investigated Limits on Cell Size and used the Heart Rate and EKG sensors before the Thanksgiving break via equipment loan. A trip to Berwick High School with Gary Stair’s biology classes was spent looking at the processes of respiration and photosynthesis in spinach leaves measuring carbon dioxide produced and utilized. This was a great introduction to the study of photosynthesis for these students. Another round of Cricket Respiration was with Paulette Armbruster’s CP Biology class at Selinsgrove High School and with Pam Ulicny’s seventh graders at Tri-Valley in visits and with Kelly Boyer’s science club participants at North Schuylkill via equipment loan. Also at Tri-Valley, the Environmental Science students looked at the Effect of Acids and Bases on a wide variety of biological and non-biological solutions. Another trip to Selinsgrove High School allowed me to try a new lab (for me) in Tracy Hepner and Bill Bechtel’s Environmental Science classes as we looked at Acid Rain: Its Effect on Surface Water. The comparisons of buffering capacities of various types of water was quite interesting. It was pGLO again before Thanksgiving at Shikellamy High School with Jen Gurski’s Biology classes. Finally winding up the month Paulette Armbruster’s biology students extracted their own DNA and made DNA necklaces with outstanding success in a new protocol of Genes in a Bottle.
I was pleased to be able to participate in this year’s edition of the Biotechnology Workshop held at Lycoming College. It was an educational day well spent and a great opportunity to network with many teachers from our area. This has been a very busy, very productive month! I appreciate the number of teachers making the most of a visit with multiple classes and the teachers willing to use equipment loans to bring Science in Motion to their students. Thanks!
Jaclyn Basgil, Chemistry/Physics Mobile Educator Says…
I’d like to thank all of the wonderful teachers and students that I have met so far this year through Science in Motion. I began this month by visiting the classes of Jocelyn Bailey at Milton High School. We investigated the energy content in foods like Tostitos, Fritos, circus peanuts, cashews and pop tarts. The students had fun burning the variety of food items and capturing the heat released. Next, I headed out to visit SIM alum, Erica Merriett who now teaches at Danville High School. Her chemistry students performed two chemical reactions and were asked to evaluate which was an endothermic and which was an exothermic reaction. The students enjoyed the bubbling and smoking of the reactions and most students correctly identified the energy transfer. Karen Avery decided to put our GPS units to work at Milton High School. Deborah Smeltzer, also at Milton High School, brought SIM to her chemistry classes as we did an investigation into cryogenics. We made use of our liquid nitrogen supply to show the students an array of fun and exciting demonstrations such as hammering a nail into wood using a banana, and smashing grapes, onions and racquet balls into solid pieces. We ended each class by enjoying ice cream made from liquid nitrogen and liquid ice cream mix. Martha Kanaskie at Southern Columbia High School finished up the month for us putting our infrared spectrophotometers to use. Her Chemistry students will obtain and analyze spectra of a liquid sample.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving
holiday. Keep an eye out for the SIM booth at The Pennsylvania Science Teachers
Association Convention in Hershey. Also, I have very few days of availability
left on my calendar so please take a look at our Web site and fill out a reservation
form as soon as possible. Thanks again to all for a great month at SIM!
Greg Stout, Mobile Educator Says…
November ushered in the second round of stream sampling and analyses in our pilot Water Quality program. This is a cooperative effort between the Chesapeake Bay Commission (CBC), Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), Susquehanna University’s Science In Motion (SIM) program and four participating local high schools.
Juniata High School’s Dan Smith and his students started us off with our second trip to Lost Creek in Cuba Mills on November 7. It was a gorgeous fall day and a great day to be in the water measuring flow rates and collecting samples. The students completed their testing in a much shorter time frame than our first round as they have become more familiar with both the equipment and the procedures.
Sheila Furr’s class from Shikellamy traveled to Shamokin Creek on November 17. We encountered a stream that was much higher and faster than our first time out and we soon discovered how quickly the weather could turn ugly. Just as we finished our last flow rate measurement some clouds moved in and the temperature dropped as the wind increased substantially. But we completed our “mission” by pulling two vans side by side to form a windbreak and placing two tables in that space to hold our Water Quality equipment.
Students at Montoursville High School and teacher Steve Tressler made their second trip to the Little Muncy on November 21. Deep and fast water prohibited flow rate measurement but Steve was able to collect water samples with our depth-integrated sampler. Students were still able to conduct their Water Quality analyses as well as preparing other samples for shipment to the DEP lab in Harrisburg. The students were flexible in this regard and also showed a good increase in their understanding of protocol and technique.
Elizabeth Sterling’s class from Lewisburg High School had to reschedule their visit to December due to thunderstorm activity on November 16.
I attended Lycoming College’s annual Biotechnology Conference on November 22. In addition to participating in sessions on fiber, fingerprint, and blood spatter analyses, I was able to meet some teachers currently participating in our programs.
If you have any needs in the area
of Water Quality, please feel free to contact me at the SIM office to set
up an appointment or schedule a visit.
Physics Experiment of the Month
Vernier Circuit Boards
The experiment of the month highlights our newly purchased Vernier Circuit Boards. The Vernier Circuit Board, shown here, is a simple preconfigured board that makes it easy to connect RC, battery, and bulb circuits without a lot of loose components. It includes a resettable fuse, two powering options, resistors, capacitors, an LED, lamps, binding posts to add your own components, and test leads.
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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
