The Newsletter for Science in Motion at Susquehanna University

Volume IV Issue 4 January 2005

 

Director's Column

I want to thank everyone who was able to attend the SIM Winter Workshop on Thursday, January 13, at Susquehanna University. We did have to use our snow date since the weather did not cooperate the previous week. Biology teachers worked with Ms. Madge Schworer using PCR to amplify the PV92 locus on chromosome 16 from their own DNA. With minor adjustments, this experiment shows great promise for teaching PCR and even population genetics to a range of students. Chemistry teachers worked with Ms. Erica Merriett on her new Chemistry Crime Scene. Many techniques were learned which can be mixed and matched to accommodate many different levels of students. Physics teachers worked with Mr. Mike McDevitt experimenting with the Kinetics Carts, GPS and Light Intensity versus Distance. The physics teachers also spent time developing a Physics Crime Scene that will make a wonderful addition to the physics experiments we offer. We had a brief brainstorming session latter in the day where a couple experiments were suggested for the UV/VIS Spectrophotometer and the Fluorometer. I look forward to hearing from any teachers who think they might have experiments for either instrument. Attending the workshop, were teachers representing Central Columbia, Danville, East Juniata, Lewisburg, Line Mountain, Mt. Carmel, Northwest Academy, Selinsgrove, Shikellamy, S. Williamsport, Southern Columbia, Tri Valley and Williamsport. We hope everyone enjoyed the workshop and thank you for a very successful event!

Now that our Winter Workshop has occurred, we are already looking forward to our weeklong SIM Summer Workshop. Our Summer Workshop has been scheduled from Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 17, 2005. Keep these dates in mind if you are interested in our Summer Workshop. As usual, we will be offering a $1000 stipend and 30 hours of Act 48 credit for attending all five days of the Summer Workshop.

As a final note, I would like to remind everyone who signs up for any SIM event to please check your e-mail regularly. We use e-mail to send out event reminders, agendas, updates and if necessary cancellation or rescheduling information. If we do need to advise you of any delays or cancellations, we will definitely e-mail you at least one day before the scheduled event. We would never wait until the day of an event to let you know of a change in schedule. If you are registered for an event and don’t receive e-mails from us, please let us know as soon as possible by giving Melanie a call at 372-4779.

 

Erica Merriett, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…

November and December were very busy months for the Chemistry vans. I started off the month of November doing the GC and HPLC labs with Sheila Furr’s Organic chemistry classes at Shikellamy High School. I was then off to Milton High School to do the Energy in Foods Lab with Jocelyn Bailey’s, Kathy Bower’s and Deb Kurtz’s Applied Biology and Chemistry classes. This lab was very exciting for me, as it is one I had never done before. The kids and I had a great time trying to figure out which type of food would burn the best. It really gave the students a visual idea of what calories and energy are all about. The middle of the month was occupied by Mike McDevitt at Danville High School where we worked on Acid and Base Titrations with his Organic chemistry class. I finished up November with Deb Smeltzer at Milton High School doing the Liquid Nitrogen Demonstration right before Thanksgiving. Madge came along for the day and we had a lot of fun. We had the chance to make ice cream – and it was very, very, tasty!

December started off with our attending the PSTA conference in Hershey. This was a nice experience and we were able to gather a few ideas that will be helpful to SIM. On Friday of the conference, all the members of the Science in Motion consortium gathered to display various equipment that we have. Not only was this beneficial to teachers attending the conference, but it gave us a chance to get some tips and ideas from other SIM mobile educators. The middle of December marked the debut of the Infrared Spectrophotometers as they made their way to Danville High School where both Mike McDevitt’s Organic chemistry class and Deb Slattery’s AP Chemistry class did the IR of Organic Liquids Lab. The lab went very smoothly and was a great success. The IRs also made a trip to Muncy High School to Mark Kramer’s Academic chemistry classes and Matt Manning’s AP Chemistry class. December was also a big month for studying radiation. Colleen Ruths at Shikellamy High School, and Jen Kelly at Lewisburg High School both scheduled visits for the Radiation Shielding and Penetrating Abilities Lab. The radiation equipment also went out on loan to John Tamblin at Mt. Carmel High School during the month! I also brought the Simple Machines Lab to Colleen Ruths’ Principles of Technology classes at Shikellamy. This is a set of three labs that all have to do with simple machines. The labs went very smoothly and were quite straight forward. I think it was a great way for kids to see how simple machines really work!

The beginning of January has been busy preparing for the Winter Workshop. At the workshop, the chemistry group focused on the new chemistry focused crime scene. It seems to have been a hit since many of the teachers in attendance have signed up for visits! The day after the workshop, I took the IRs to Danville High School to use them with Deb Slattery’s College Prep chemistry classes.

The chemistry van calendar is quite full for the rest of the year. There are still a few dates open, but I recommend scheduling as soon as possible if you have a specific activity in mind. I still have a few days open in March and April. Don’t forget that it is possible to borrow equipment during times when a mobile educator is not available! The best way to contact me regarding visits or loans is by e-mail at merriett@susqu.edu. I will be checking messages daily and will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks to all of you who are scheduling visits and making Science in Motion a fun place to work!

 

Mike McDevitt, Equipment Manager says...

Over the course of several in service programs and classroom trial and error, Science in Motion can offer a combined physics experiment utilizing our Pasco Dynamics Tracks and Vernier photogate probeware. We have adjusted the Vernier Physics with Computers Experiment # 19, Conservation of Momentum, which utilizes motion sensors to substitute photogates to collect data. The motion detectors proved to be troublesome. The photogates produce more accurate and reproducible results. The Pasco Dynamics Track and Carts allow students to study Conservation of Momentum in several classifications of collisions in virtually a frictionless system. The carts used with the dynamics track have magnetic bumpers to demonstrate an elastic collision and Velcro bumpers to demonstrate inelastic or general collisions. Some carts are equipped with a collision-activated plunger to demonstrate super-elastic collisions. The photogates provide accurate velocity readings for two carts before and after the collision. Conservation of momentum calculations for the collisions can fall within 15% error. As a side experiment calculation of “g” can easily be realized. Connect a pulley system to one end of the track with a mass attached to a string, then to a cart using two photogates. Velocities and acceleration can easily be calculated. We have 8 Dynamics Tracks with all attachments and peripherals.

 

Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…

November, December, and January have been months with many new experiences in my role as biology mobile educator. Jen Gurski from Shikellamy High School requested the Human Chromosome Spread (or Chromosome “Splat” lab) in November. This was a new lab for me and turned out to be quite exciting as her 9th grade students “splatted” HeLa cells onto slides, stained the cells, and observed their preparations under the microscope. We had many good examples of chromosome preparations and even the “failures” provided the students an opportunity to make a close observation of cells under the microscope. The process of dropping the cell suspension from varying heights was exciting and lots of fun! Thanks for introducing me to the lab, Jen!

I next visited Karen Avery’s Biology II classes at Milton High School with the pGLO Bacterial Transformation lab. Students produced glowing colonies with great success. Reports were that they shared this success with school administrators and anyone else willing to observe! Thanks for an exciting day, Karen. Before the Thanksgiving break I traveled to Mt. Carmel Area High School to bring the Investigating Enzymes lab to Angela Farronato’s General Biology classes. November ended at Milton High School with Kathy Bower and Jocelyn Bailey as we performed the EKG investigation and parts of the Heart Rate study with the biology classes. This coordination of schedules really helps to bring the Science in Motion experience to many students in one trip. Thanks! The first week in December brought a new experience my way. The Science in Motion team went to the PSTA convention in Hershey, attending many sessions, participating in a demonstration with other members of the SIM consortium, and meeting with other SIM mobile educators and directors to discuss assessment possibilities. Networking with our colleagues across the state is always stimulating and helpful as we exchange ideas and troubleshoot labs. I returned to Shikellamy High School and Jen Gurski’s students with the Crime Scene. We spent an action packed week trying to solve the mystery of the demise of Edward Coli. The students worked with fingerprinting, hair and fabric analysis, blood typing, and DNA fingerprinting including agarose gel electrophoresis to make their conclusions about their class suspects. Also in December, I visited Paulette Armbruster at Selinsgrove High School to bring the Gene in a Bottle DNA extraction lab to her College Prep Biology class. Successful students left class with their DNA in a tiny glass vial. Next was a visit to Deborah Kurtz at Milton High School with the Vernier Photosynthesis and Respiration lab. Her students used the CO2 and O2 sensors to investigate rate of respiration and photosynthesis in spinach leaves. The next day I traveled to Tri-Valley Jr/Sr High School for a twist on the same experiment. Pam Ulicny introduced me to the Pickle “Dill”-emma Lab in which students attempt to determine if pickle juice pollution from a neighboring pickle plant is affecting the growth of the crops on nearby farms. Pam’s delightful presentation of the “Dill”-emma excited the seventh grade life science students and we were able to measure the rate of photosynthesis on small plants. The students were prompted to consider just how we could improve the lab for the future and had an exciting day working with the computers for the first time. The New Year brought us snow but we previewed the upcoming biology Crime Scene with enrichment students from Line Mountain High School in Al Zelnick’s classes. These students had an intense day at the SIM office working through the protocols we will use in February at Line Mountain and hopefully will be ready to help out as lab assistants. Our Winter Workshop, though a week late, provided a great opportunity for me to meet some more teachers in our area and connect again with familiar faces. The biology group worked with the new thermal cycler and the PCR experiment and the EKG/HR experiments from Vernier. The teachers had time to do some brainstorming, networking, and troubleshooting of experiments which are helpful to us all. Thanks to everyone who participated! The next day I was back to the classroom as Geoff Goodenow’s Advanced Biology class at Lewisburg High School determined the rate of respiration by yeast using the CO2 sensors and computers while testing the ability of the yeast to metabolize different sugars.

The biology van calendar is very full. Please remember that you can also borrow equipment for labs if you are unable to schedule a mobile educator visit. The easiest way to contact me is by email at schworer@susqu.edu. I am out of the office most days but I check my email daily. I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for a great first semester of Science in Motion experiences!

 

Biology Experiment of the Month

Limitations on Cell Size: Surface Area to Volume

In order for cells to survive, they must constantly exchange ions, gases, nutrients, and wastes with their environment. These exchanges take place at the cell’s surface. To perform this function efficiently, there must be an adequate ratio between the cell’s volume and its surface area. As a cell’s volume increases, its surface

area increases, but at a decreased rate. If you continued to increase the cell’s volume, it would soon be unable to efficiently exchange materials and the cell would die. This is the reason that the kidney cell of an elephant is the same general size as a mouse kidney cell. In this lab activity, we use agar cubes, which have a high salt content, as cell models. Students will investigate how increasing a cell’s surface area while maintaining an equal volume affects the rate of material exchange with the environment. When the agar cubes are placed in distilled water, they will begin to dissolve, releasing sodium and chloride ions. The solution’s conductivity, measured by a Conductivity Probe, is proportional to the ion concentration in the solution. Students begin with a single 2 cm x 2 cm agar cube and perform the first data collection. They then cut a second 2 x 2 cube into 8 pieces and run the experiment again. Finally students are challenged to cut a third cube into 64 pieces and run the test again. This is a simple experiment to perform, however, it elegantly demonstrates the concept that as the surface area and the surface-to-volume ratio of a cell increases, so does its ability to exchange materials. Students are able to see this easily by comparing the conductivity vs. time graphs they obtain on the computer and then are able to plot the relationship of the rate of ion exchange vs. surface-to-volume ratio using the computer graphing application.

 

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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