The Newsletter for Science
in Motion at Susquehanna University
Volume IV Issue 9 Summer 2005
Director's Column
The end of the school year was quickly followed by the SIM Summer Workshop from Monday, June 13 to Friday June 17, at Susquehanna University. Attending the workshop were twenty teachers from thirteen different schools including Berwick, Bloomsburg, Central Mountain, Hughesville, Juniata, Mifflinburg, Milton, North Schuylkill, Shamokin, Shikellamy, South Williamsport, Southern Columbia and Warrior Run. We had a nice mixture of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Physical Science teachers at the workshop. Many of you may have read the articles in The Daily Item on Sunday, June 12 and Friday, June 17, regarding the workshop. Or you may have heard an interview on 89.9 FM WVIA on Tuesday, June 14. The publicity focused on the highlight of the workshop, the visit to Knoebel's for Amusement Park Physics on Wednesday, June 15. The Summer Workshop was a lot of fun, but it was quickly followed by another workshop.
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Mobile Educator, Erica Merriett, and teacher analyzing results at Knoebel's Amusement Park. |
On Monday, June 20th and Tuesday, June 21st, Science in Motion (SIM) and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) held our inaugural Water Quality Workshop at Susquehanna University. The workshop kicked off with a grant presentation by State Representative Russ Fairchild on behalf of the Chesapeake Bay Commission to SIM and the SRBC. Teachers from Juniata, Lewisburg, Montoursville and Shikellamy are involved in the project this year. Jen Hoffman and Kevin McGonigal from the SRBC lead the workshop training the teachers and SIM staff in proper water quality sampling techniques. Tuesday morning was spent at Penns Creek putting the training to use.
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Representative Russ Fairchild presenting a grant for $50,000 to SIM and the SRBC on behalf of the Chesapeake Bay Commission. |
From my conversations with legislators,
it is very likely that funding for Science in Motion will be present in the
2005-2006 state budget. The level of funding is currently unknown, but it
will probably be comparable to last year’s budget. The House recently
passed HB 1512 to permanently place the Science in Motion program into state
law. Hopefully, the Senate will pass the companion bill SB 414. Passage of
these bills will make the Science in Motion program a permanent line item
in the state budget, which is one step closer to stable funding for the program.
I want to thank everyone who contacted their legislators to show their support
of the Science in Motion program. Have a great summer!
Erica Merriett, Chemistry Mobile Educator Says…
My first year at Science in Motion
has come to an end. Overall, it was a very busy and successful year. I finished
up the end of the year with two crime scene visits. The classes of Colleen
Ruths and Yvonne Monahan at Shikellamy High School and the classes of Angela
Gockley and Martha Kanaskie at Southern Columbia High School were excited
to do the last crime scene visits of the year. The kids all seemed to enjoy
applying chemistry to studying evidence and identifying the culprit!
The last two visits from the chemistry van at the end of the year were quite
fun. I first went to South Williamsport High School to do Liquid Nitrogen
Demonstrations for the chemistry classes of Matt Eisley. It was lots of fun,
and the ice cream we made was quite tasty on the first day of June. The next
day was full of fun as Madge came along on a trip to Knoebel’s with
the physics class of Mark Peterman from Montgomery High School. The students
were quite successful at gathering data from various rides, including the
Phoenix, Galleon, Bumper Cars, and the Skloosh. They saved their data to take
back and analyze further, but what we saw was quite interesting. It was a
fun day for all of us; luckily we also had beautiful weather.
With school visits wrapped up, it was time to start preparing for the summer
workshop. The workshop, held from June 13-17, was hectic but very productive.
The chemistry teachers kept quite busy working on a variety of labs and equipment.
Some of the teachers worked on developing a lab for the new UV/VIS spectrophotometer
as well as trying out a lab from the Advanced Chemistry book from Vernier.
Chemistry teachers were also able to use the gas chromatographs and infrared
spectrophotometers, which was new to most of them. We also spent one day going
through the entire chemistry crime scene, which was a lot of fun!
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A chemistry teacher works to develop a new lab for the UV-VIS Spectrophotometer. |
There were quite a few physics teachers who participated in the workshop this year, and they were able to try out a lot of our new physics equipment. Their week consisted of work on some radiation and light intensity labs, physical science labs, and working with the low friction dynamics tracks. Although we had a few technical difficulties with sensors at Knoebel’s, our amusement park physics labs seemed to work. The physics group also had a chance to try out our new electricity components and offered suggestions for labs with those.
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Mobile Educator, Erica Merriett, works with teacher on a new chemistry lab. |
Throughout the summer, there is a lot to be done here at SIM. I will be working on some new labs for chemistry as well as physics. Keep your eye on the Web site for updates and additions in the labs and equipment available sections. See you in the fall!
Madge Schworer, Biology Mobile Educator Says…
Summer has arrived and with it a change of activities and pace at Science in Motion. I wrapped up the school year with Biology Crime Scene activities at Milton High School with Kathy Bower and Jocelyn Bailey and with a full Crime Scene at Danville High School. Teachers Donna Counterman, Sonia Crane, and Pershing Markle joined forces and combined classrooms at Danville to give all their students the opportunity to be crime scene investigators. It was hectic but great fun to do the crime scene in stations and to have so many students participate. Finally, I joined Erica at Knoebel’s with Mark Peterman’s physics class from Montgomery High School to learn more about Amusement Park Physics and remote data collection. It was a good end to a productive school year!
School’s out but the Science in Motion workshop kept the mobile educators and participating teachers busy in June. I was excited to have many new schools represented and to meet so many new faces. The biology section worked through cellular respiration, primary productivity, photosynthesis, fish protein extraction and electrophoresis, human chromosome spreads, and the biology crime scene. In addition, we joined in at Knoebel’s trying out the physiology probes on some rides and fine tuning the remote data collection method for water quality testing. Some things worked very well and others need some work but I think that everyone came away with a new level of confidence in a variety of techniques. Our last workshop day was “free time” as the teachers all chose different activities to pursue. I came away with many “things to do” for the summer to improve labs and fine-tune procedures to prepare them for student use.
I turned from workshop leader to participant as we spent two days learning water quality techniques and trying out equipment for our new project with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. Together with teachers from participating schools, we spent one day in the lab learning background information and one day at Penn’s Creek trying out the collection and testing methods. It was a taste of an exciting new activity for Science in Motion.
Summer at SIM is spent in many ways. An entire new Vernier book will be available by fall for human physiology with many new sensors and labs to try out. I will be making the many changes and improvements to labs suggested during the year and adding information to the Web site to help in your planning. Start thinking about your plans for the school year and check our Web site to learn what is new at Science in Motion.
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
