The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume IV Issue 5 February 2005
Director's Column
This month, I had the opportunity to meet with Representative Adam Harris and Senator John Gordner. Representative Harris was disappointed that funding for Science in Motion was not included in the Governor’s 2005-2006 budget, but he told me he would fight to include us in the budget. Senator Gordner has already signed on in support of the bill introduced to the Pennsylvania Senate by Senator Robbins to include the Pennsylvania Basic Education/Higher Education Partnership (Science in Motion) in the school code. Senator Gordner also did not believe that the delayed passing of the budget that occurred for the 2003-2004 budget would occur again. Both Representative Harris and Senator Gordner are looking forward to seeing Science in Motion during Capitol Day on Wednesday May 11, 2005.
Attached to this newsletter, you will find a registration form for the SU Science in Motion Summer Workshop. If you are interested in attending this workshop, please fill out the registration form and return it to Melanie or give her a call at 372-4779. The workshop will be held at Fisher Science Hall on Susquehanna University campus from Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 17, 2005. We have not selected a schedule of events for the workshop yet, so please include on your registration form any activities, experiments or equipment you would like to see at the workshop.
I would like to take this opportunity
to announce that we now have an on-line reservation form available!
Just go to our Web site at http://www.susqu.edu/sim
and click on Services. You will see a link to the SIM ON-LINE Reservation
Form. This will take you to our on-line form that you can fill in and submit
on-line. When you click Submit, your reservation form is e-mailed to us at
Science in Motion and a Mobile Educator will contact you to verify your reservation.
We added this service in an effort to expedite the registration process and
hopefully ensure that more teachers are able to reserve the days they want.
If you prefer, you may still print out a registration form, fill it in and
fax or mail it to us.
Erica Merriett, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…
Is it really time for the next
newsletter already? I guess time flies when you’re having fun! As I
have said before, things are keeping busy here, and it looks like it will
stay that way for the rest of the year. After the winter workshop, I took
the IR of Liquids lab out to Danville High School
and ran the labs with Deb Slattery’s College Prep Chemistry
students. We ran the lab for two days and the students had plenty of time
to analyze all their spectra.
One of the students commented
on seeing the exact same IR mentioned on an episode of CSI that week! The
middle of January brought me to Milton High School to do
the Simple Machines Lab (see Experiment of the Month) with Jocelyn
Bailey’s Physical Science classes. Then, I was off to Shikellamy
High School to work with the Biochemistry students of Sheila
Furr. We did two labs, Energy in Foods and Investigating
Exercise and Heart Rate. The students seemed to have a lot of fun since
the labs are easily related to “real life”. I wrapped up my January
travels by taking the IR of Liquids lab to Selinsgrove High
School for Randy Moyer’s Chem II students.
Energy in Foods Lab at
Shikellamy
I offer many thanks to John Traver at Line Mountain High School for dealing with any of the little quirks that came with running the Chemistry Crime Scene for the first time with his Chemistry students. The students did a great job with the many experiments we did, and we all enjoyed trying to identify the thief. I was able to make a few minor adjustments that should make the week run a bit smoother. After a short break from crime scene doing the EKG and Investigating Exercise and Heart Rate with Kelly Boyer’s Human Physiology Class at North Schuylkill High School, I was ready to bring the Crime Scene out again. This time, I was off to Sandi Lewis at Northwestern Academy to see how the adjustments would improve the week. It was a great week there, and all of the labs worked very well.
The end of February will bring the Chemistry van and me to Mt. Carmel High School, where I will be running the Chemistry Crime Scene with all of John Tamblin’s Chemistry classes.
There will be lots of excitement for me in the coming months as I take the Crime Scene out four more times. I will also be doing quite a few physics and chemistry labs that I haven’t done before. I look forward to learning how to use some of the equipment that I haven’t gotten to use yet!
If there is a lab you would like
to fit in before the end of the year, I have a few dates open in March and
April. Please contact me, as soon as possible, at
merriett@susqu.edu if you want to try and claim a day for your classes.
Also, be sure to check out our new ON-LINE RESERVATION FORM which can be found
at www.susqu.edu/SIM/reservation.htm
. You will now be able to fill out the form and submit it to us online!
Chemistry Experiment of the Month
Simple Machines
As we all know by now, hands-on experience can often be the best way for students to grasp a concept. For those of you teaching physical science classes, our Simple Machines Lab offers a great way for students to actually use simple machines and measure the differences in workload. I have taken this lab out twice, and am scheduled to bring it out at least two more times this year. Each time, the students seem to be amazed at the difference in force required to do the work once they have set up the simple machine.
There are three different simple machines that are demonstrated in this experiment. Actually, there are three labs that I have been running together during one (45 minute) period. The students can investigate inclined planes, pulleys, and levers using the Vernier Force sensors, computers, and various pieces of equipment. Typically, I have been setting up stations of each type of simple machine, and the students are rotating through the stations. This set-up works great for data collection and seeing the machines in action. You may want to plan on a second day to work on calculations and questions if you want the students to work together on them in class. This is a wonderful lab for demonstrating the general concept of simple machines and works great in a physical science class, and I imagine it could easily be adapted to fit into a more advanced physics curriculum.
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
The
snow finally arrived in mid January and began to challenge the Bio van schedule!
Fortunately the pGLO experiment with Allison Spencer’s
AP Biology class at Berwick High School was in the
results day when an early dismissal called a premature close to the visit. The
students did have plenty of time to record their “glowing” results.
The following week found the Bio van at Milton High School
with the Crime Scene Investigation in Deb Kurtz's Biology A and ABC
I classes.
The snow was still a factor as we began the week with a 2-hour delay challenging
the students to stay on task to get all facets of the crime scene completed
but we were successful! All six classes had a great time solving the mystery
of the demise of the very tall Mr. Coli. Erica and I traveled together to
Line Mountain the first week in February bringing the Crime
Scene Investigation labs to classes. Having a biology crime and a chemistry
crime is a great addition to our program offerings. Alan Zelnick’s
Biology 1, Applied Biology, and AP Biology classes at Line Mountain High School
worked through the Biology Crime Scene. The five “student teaching assistants”
who had visited us at the SIM office in early January to learn the lab techniques
were a great help to the rest of the students. The next week was spent at
Shikellamy High School bringing the labs Diffusion through
Membranes and Biological Membranes to Sheila Furr’s Biochemistry
classes and Photosynthesis and Respiration to Jen Gurski’s
Regular Biology classes. The days were busy as each of these labs uses the
full lab period but the students were focused and hopefully gained understanding
about these important concepts. Finally, a visit to Milton High School
gave the opportunity to give a first run through to Karen
Avery’s lab, Acids and Cells, with her ABC II classes as the
students examined the effect of acid on water, a potato homogenate, and a
commercial buffer. The students got great results and hopefully an understanding
of how living tissues maintain pH. It is hard to believe that the second semester
is well underway but I am looking forward to spring already!
Crime Scene Investigation at MiltonBiology Crime Scene at Line Mountain
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
