How do you envision science education in your classroom? Your school? Your district? In hectic life of a modern educator, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the initiatives, expectations, and pressures of our profession. As a first-year high school administrator, I admit I experienced a point last year when I was simply surviving—not managing adequately, but just barely managing.

Fortunately, I was assigned a leadership coach who recognized the signs of an impending collapse. He advised me to re-center myself by focusing on the one thing that would make the biggest difference in my school and ensuring that one thing was done well and consistently. He told me if I could devote time each day to that one thing—regardless of whatever else I might face—I would know I had made a difference.

The kicker is that this “one thing” had to include something tangible, some evidence to show I was working toward my “one thing.” The one thing I chose was instruction. I want the students in my school to have the highest degree of quality instruction, consistently delivered to them. For this to happen, I had to leave my office and visit classrooms and converse with teachers about instruction. The observations I made, the feedback I gave, and the discussions I had regarding what quality instruction is, what it looks like in a particular grade level and subject, and how we could make it happen consistently, provided clear evidence that I was focusing on my “one thing.”  

I want teachers in my building to have this same singular focus. The “one thing” I want them to concentrate on is teaching well every day. I want them to devote time and energy to designing challenging, engaging lessons that push their students to grow in their knowledge and understanding. I want them to start each day by reflecting on what their vision for education looks like in their classroom, and if they teach science, I want them to consider the vision set forth by the Framework for K–12 Science Education, and make that vision a reality.

While I would love to stand and say this to my faculty, I know my words would be received with skepticism at best. The truth is that we live and work in a state that still requires high-stakes assessments. The scores of those assessments are used to evaluate teachers, administrators, and schools. Those assessments aren’t perfect; everyone agrees they don’t provide a full picture of a student’s growth over a year; and they aren’t going away. So I can’t tell my teachers they don’t matter, because they do. What I can say is that how we define assessment in our school can change, and that the traditional summative end-of-year assessment isn’t the “one thing” on which we should solely focus. 

This summer, I studied the recently published National Academies Press report, Seeing Students Learn Science: Integrating Instruction and Assessment. One key idea that really resonated with me is that assessment should be an integrated part of classroom instruction and not an interruption or sole event. This shift in perspective has helped me better reframe this discussion on instruction and assessment and what they should look like at my school. To accomplish this, I have restructured key ideas presented in the book to create questions that teachers can ask themselves and that I can ask during our conversations about teaching and learning.  (see slide)

I would like to report that this second year has begun flawlessly and that we are consistently having rich discussions about integrating assessment into instruction. The truth is, after just more than a month into the school year, we are still taking baby steps. My teachers are still trying to grasp how to change their instruction and assessment practices, and I am still learning how to be an administrator. What we do have is a focus, a “one thing” that we believe matters most, and a belief that the little changes we make each day to accomplish that one thing will eventually result in an experience that matches the vision we have for our classrooms, our school, and our district. 

Zoe Evans

Zoe Evans is principal of Bowdon High School in Bowdon, Georgia. Before becoming an administrator in 2012, she taught middle level science for 19 years in Florida and Georgia. Evans is a National Board Certified–teacher in Early Adolescent Science and a Georgia Master Teacher. She is the 2005 Georgia recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. 

Evans served on the writing team for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and has collaborated on many projects, including the NGSS EQuIP Professional Learning Facilitator’s Guide, NGSS Example Bundles, and NGSS Evidence Statements. She also is an EQuIP Rubric trainer, NGSS@NSTA Curator, and NSTA’s District V Director. Evans earned a bachelor’s degree in middle grades education, a master’s degree in middle grades science, and a specialist’s degree in middle grade science from the University of West Georgia. 

This article was featured in the September issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Visit NSTA’s NGSS@NSTA Hub for hundreds of vetted classroom resources, professional learning opportunities, publications, ebooks and more; connect with your teacher colleagues on the NGSS listservs (members can sign up here); and join us for discussions around NGSS at an upcoming conference.

Future NSTA Conferences

2017 Fall Conferences

• Baltimore: Oct. 5–7, 2017
• Milwaukee: Nov. 9–11, 2017
• New Orleans: Nov. 30–Dec. 2, 2017

National Conference

• Atlanta: March 15–18, 2018

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Commentary: Reasoning Versus Post-Truth in The Science Teacher is an important read in a time when dependence on unverified information from social media seems to be more prevalent than using trusted sources that value reasoning.

Science Scope – STEM Integration

From the Editor’s Desk: STEM Integration: A Tall Order: “The shift from teaching math and science in silos to intertwining them with technology and engineering makes education more relevant to students’ lives through exposure to authentic problems.”

Articles in this issue that describe lessons include a helpful sidebar (“At a Glance”) documenting the big idea, essential pre-knowledge, time, and cost. The lessons also include connections with the NGSS.

• Designing a Sustainable Neighborhood: An Interdisciplinary Project-Based Energy and Engineering Unit in the Seventh-Grade Classroom describes student collaborations in designing energy-efficient buildings. The article has examples of student work.
• Teaching Thermal Energy Concepts in a Middle School Mathematics-Infused Science Curriculum includes a 5E lesson that goes beyond traditional lab lessons by infusing math skills related to the investigation.
• Students often explore motion using toy cars and ramps. Exploring the Engineering Design Process Through Computer-Aided Design and 3-D Printing show how students can go further, designing and constructing their own cars. The 5E lesson includes a rubric.
• What happens in the schoolyard after the dismissal bell? Students investigate and submit their findings in What’s in Your School Yard? Using Citizen Science Wildlife Cameras to Conduct Authentic Scientific Investigations
• Teacher’s Toolkit: STEM Career Bingo raises students’ awareness of how STEM careers are interconnected.
• Integrating Technology: Enhancing a Scientific Inquiry Lesson Through Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning describes how students apply engineering design processes to solve a problem. The article also shows how the lesson was modified after initial implementation.
• Citizen Science: Navigate Classroom Citizen Science Throughout the School Year with Journey North incorporates technology into a study of monarch migration.
• Colleagues share their ideas and strategies in this month’s Listserv Roundup: Add More STEAM to Your Classes.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Scope on the Skies: Cassini’s Grand Finale
• Disequilibrium: Colorful Covalent Bonds
• Science for All: Breaking the Cycle: Thoughts About Building Grit in the Classroom
• Teacher to Teacher: Written Assessment in Three Dimensions

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Biodiversity, Careers in Science, Conductors/Insulators, Covalent and Ionic Bonds, Energy Transformations, Forces and Motion, Insects, Kinetic/Potential Energy, Law of Conservation of Energy, Migration, Renewable Sources of Energy, Satellite Technology, Sound. Sustainable Development, Winds

Read more from The Science Teacher and Science & Children:

The Science Teacher – Using Evidence-Based Reasoning

Editor’s Corner: Evidence-Based Reasoning: “Cable news and social media now allow us to view only the information and views that confirm our own biases, often accepted without evidence and with great confidence….Teachers—especially science teachers—are in a unique position to reaffirm the priority of facts and evidence-based reasoning.”

The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS.

• Idea Bank: Setting the Stage: Your First Week of Science Class illustrates that it’s never to early in the school year to involve students in investigations (this one is about reaction times).
• The Case of Dinosaur Metabolism includes a lesson in which students research thermoregulation in dinosaurs and use a claim-evidence-reasoning process to guide their thinking. A rubric for C-E-R is included, along with examples of student work.
• The lesson described in Reasoning From Models integrates probes, physical models, simulations, and mathematical models to help students understand their learning about electric circuits.
• Modeling Periodic Patterns has ideas for repurposing an investigation of chemical reactions to include evidence-based reasoning.
• Rather than a once-and-done cookbook lab, Learning Iteratively shows how a series of activities can build on each other as students develop and refine models and reflect on their explanations.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Science 2.0: Enhancing Google Sheets for the Classroom
• Focus on Physics: Eight Tips for New (and not so new) Teachers
• The Green Room: Exploring Our Public Lands
• Health Wise: Be Prepared for Opioid Overdoses
• Career of the Month: Epidemiologist
• Right to the Source: A Nose for Poison Gas Saved Lives

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Chemical Reactions, Circulatory System, Dinosaurs, Drugs and Drug Abuse, Electric Circuits, Electric Current, Halogens, Homeostasis, Mapping, Metabolism, Metals and Nonmetals, National Parks, Paleontology, Periodic Table, Respiratory System

Science & Children – Preservice and Inservice Experiences: Enhancing Science Teachers’ Repertoires

Editor’s Note: Learning and Teaching (and Vice Versa): “This issue includes a variety of professional development strategies used in preservice and inservice settings. Not only do they provide ways to enrich your classroom science teaching, they also provide ideas concerning how you might go about sharing your expertise with colleagues and beyond.”

The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS.

• Teachers learn by observing another teacher in Professional Development in Real Time, reflecting on their own teaching, and trying new 5E lessons themselves.
• Creating STEM Kits for the Classroom describes a win-win project: Teachers design “kits” based on lessons they created. Who learned more—the designers or the students?
• Integrating Science Methods With Professional Development illustrates a “third space” methods course connecting pre-service teachers with students in a real school setting to try out their lessons.
• Instead of a set of demonstrations, try a family STEM night with the ideas in Scientists Overnight.
• The authors of Discussing Science in Professional Learning Communities share their experiences in the effective form of professional development. The article includes discussion protocols and group roles.
• Preservice early-childhood teachers help children discover What’s in Our Soil?
• Teaching Through Trade Books: The Tool and Eye includes 5E lessons that address animal adaptations.
• Engineering Encounters: Teaching Educators About Engineering describes a hands-on professional development session designed to introduce teachers to engineering at the elementary level.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• The Poetry of Science: What Do Scientists Do?
• Science 101: Can Electromagnetic Waves Affect Emotions?
• The Early Years: Experiencing Inquiry
• Formative Assessment Probes: Uncovering Preservice Teachers’ Ideas About Magnetism and Formative Assessment

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Adaptations of Animals, Decomposers, Electromagnetic Waves, Fluids and Pressure, Magnets, Rocket Technology, Roots, Seed Germination, Soil, Vibrations, Worms

As the old saying goes, sometimes less is more. And such is the case with the Carson SkeleScope. Whether used to teach optics, engineering or perhaps even astronomy, having a clear view of the internals of a telescope can be quite engaging. If you make that inspection explorable as well, students will no longer have to just imagine how the reflective magnification of light works. With the SkeleScope, students can construct and manipulate an inexpensive optical tube assembly with mirrors and an eyepiece that hides none of the components of a centuries-old telescope design that is one of the most popular today.

By producing a visible scope in the same vein as the “Visible Man” I played with as a kid, a new level of conceptual understand is possible. Until Marcel Jovine created his Visible Man and Visible Woman in the early 1960s, much of the under-skin workings of a human were relegated to drawings. I cannot help but wonder how many more doctors and nurses got their start “playing” with the plastic parts of this visible human toy.

As a company, Carson Optical was founded by Richard Cameron who actually left his job as a banker and started a business in his mother’s basement importing clever items and especially those with a scientific bend were imported from Japan. Many of the items involved optics from magnifiers to binoculars to telescopes. Today Carson Optical has 25 years of experience in the optical space and uses advanced CNC and 3D rapid prototyping to research and develop its own line of unique products. With over 100 patents, Carson Optical is a household name in science classrooms world wide. And Carson has appeared here in this blog before with their HookUpz 2.0.

Carson has made a name for itself as an innovator from the moment the first product shipped out of a Long Island, NY basement. So building a basic telescope that is arguably more exciting to look at than to look through should not be surprising.

The Carson SkeleScope is a 76mm aperture, 360mm focal length reflecting telescope that weighs less than a pound. The open-truss design common in reflecting telescopes is not uncommon, but rarely at this size. Usually open trusses are saved for when massive mirrors require it such as in observatory and Obsession telescopes that take the concept of a portable reflecting telescope as a “light bucket” to extremes.

Before exploring the telescope as a telescope, the SkeleScope optical machine had to be assembled. I solicited a pair of high school freshman for the task. They were given a box of SkeleScope parts and asked to make a time-lapse video of their work. Then I left.

Youtube now holds the proof of their work:

Even though they mounted the optical tube assembly (OTA in telescope-speak) reversed thus placing the majority of the OTA’s mass on the outside of the tripod’s balance point, I was impressed with their work and thanked them profusely!

Once up and running, the Carson SkeleScope proved to be a functional scope with reasonable optics. As a 14.4x the Carson SkeleScope preforms admirably. By using built-in extending eyepiece holder the works like a Barlow lens, 36x is possible. For reference, Gallelo’s telescope was about 6x and it provided him with views that would change the world. On the other end of the optical spectrum are the large reflecting telescopes. While a primary mirror diameter of three meters will get you on the list of major telescopes, the big guns at the top of the list are 10 meters or more in diameter. Well, there is only one more than 10m and that’s the Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain. Of the next three 10m mirrors on the list, two are found on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and known as. They were also the world’s first 10m scopes.

On a side note, Mauna Kea is a glorious volcanic mountain in Hawaii touching the rarefied air at 4145m or 13,800 feet. That’s about the same as the tippy top of Grand Teton Peak in Wyoming. Now kids don’t normally summit Grand Teton so the effects of the reduced oxygen atmosphere at that elevation are not breaking news. However, if you drive up towards the summit of Mauna Kea, you will encounter many warnings about taking children to the summit to which you can obviously drive to. Here is the text from a visitor’s guide:

Anyone in poor health should consult their physician before planning a visit to Maunakea.  We do not recommend anyone who is pregnant to go further than the VIS.  People under the age of 16 should not go any further because their bodies are still developing and they are affected more rapidly when going to a high altitude. 

Now I’ve taken kids skiing at elevations over 11,000 feet or 3400 meters in Colorado so I was curious what was special about Mauna Kea that it might be more dangerous for children. It took some doing, but I finally got some straight talk from a ranger. In a nutshell 4100 meters in elevation in Colorado is the same as 4100m in Hawaii, but the two main differences between Colorado and Hawaii, in case you didn’t know, are that 1) you cannot drive from sea level to 4100m in Colorado, and 2) you rarely stay very long at 4100m in Colorado. 

On the other hand, you can drive from a sea level beach in Hawaii to the summit of Mauna Kia in a couple hours. And worse, there is plenty to do once you reach the 4000m+ summit.  Since the effects of thin air (reduced barometric pressure and accompanying oxygen saturation) disproportionately affect children, and it was not the children who did all the driving, and spent money on a rental car, there is a strong possibility that the adults in the group will ignore the children complaints (or possibly lack of complaining as they succumb to the altitude) in order to maximize their time on top. For the record, my kids made it about 45 minutes before we had to descend due to headache and fatigue.

So what does this digression have to do with the SkeleScope? Probably something deeper, but the best I can come up with is that both Mauna Kia and the SkeleScope strip away the veneer of what they offer. Mauna Kia offers 4K meter elevation to anyone. The SkeleScope offers visibility to anyone. Ok, that’s a reach, but quality metaphors can be hard to come by these days.

The Carson SkeleScope is a modern take on a historic design. Known as a Newtonian Reflector, the optics of the Carson SkeleScope trace their roots back to 1668 when Sir Issac Newton applied the telescope design to explore an ultimately support his theories about white light being a spectrum of different colors. Using mirrors to manipulate light avoids some significant issues when using a series of lenses. Even Galileo wrote about using mirrors instead of lenses. By the way, a trivia fact is that the year Galileo Galilei died, 1642, is also the year Isaac Newton was born. I use that date as a general reference of the birth of modern science.  Add 300 years to that date and you have 1942, the birth year of Stephen Hawking.

By using mirrors instead of just lenses, the Newtonian telescope can capture more light for its size compared to a reflecting scope, weigh less, be simpler to make, and have a focal length much longer than its tube length. And that shorter focal ratio makes for a wider field of view. 

Of course Newtonian telescopes have their disadvantages, but chromatic aberration is not one of them. CA or chromatic aberration is an effect where as light is refracted through a lens, the individual wavelengths or colors do not converge on the same point.

The difference in wavelengths among the colors causes them to “bend” at different angles which is the very property we know and love when we shoot white light through a prism. Unfortunately if you are using lensed optics, the individual nature each wavelength causes them to separate creating rainbow, fringing effects, and distortion among parallel features.

Although there is a long list of issues with Newtonian telescope designs, that list is not long enough to keep the Newtonian from being one of the most popular and affordable telescope designs for amateurs and professionals alike. Which is exactly the point of the Carson SkeleScope.

By exposing the innards of the scope to the point they can be observed and explored, students can both use and manipulate the light flow in the scope. Some explorations can include restricting the reflecting surface of the primary mirror by covering a portion of it with paper. What is affected? What is not?

In the end, the Carson SkeleScope makes a useful telescope on it’s own. At 14x, the craters on the moon are filled with details including rays, upheaval domes, and crater rims. Two or three moons of Jupiter show up as specks of light in a line crossing a larger speck that is the gas giant itself.

Since school usually takes place during daylight hours, terrestrial viewing is a great use for the Carson SkeleScope. In fact known size and distance outside the classroom walls combined with the exposed nature of the Carson SkeleScope allows actual measurements using meters sticks, rulers, and a good laser range finder if you’ve got one.

In science class, optics are often reduced to a series of equations. What better way to teach and learn about optics and work hands-on with the equations than to move beyond the traditional but effective light table and turn the volume up with less …and the Carson SkeleScope.

This week in education news, New Mexico unveiled proposed science standards that omit references to climate change and evolution; all California teachers with a teaching credential, including preliminary credentials obtained through a traditional teacher preparation program or an intern credential, will now meet the definition of “effective;” teachers need to keep creativity at the forefront of the educational spectrum; the Partnership For 21^st Century Learning launched a new learning framework; panel says teachers are quitting because they’re dissatisfied; it’s all about ‘new collar’ jobs; and solving real-world problems is key to Ed tech success.

WHOSE SCIENCE? Critics Say Proposed NM Science Standards Omit Evolution, Climate Change

New Mexico’s Public Education Department unveiled proposed teaching standards this week that critics say would omit references to evolution, rising global temperatures and the age of Earth from the state’s science curriculum. The standards are based on a science curriculum called the Next Generation Science Standards proposed in 2013 by a consortium of 26 states. But the New Mexico plan contains additions and deletions from the nationwide standards. Read the article featured in the Albuquerque Journal.

California Defines ‘Effective’ And ‘Ineffective’ Teachers, And Why It Matters

Intern teachers in programs like Teach for America who earn their preliminary credential while on the job will not have the scarlet letter of being labeled an “ineffective teacher” in California. In adopting the state plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act on Wednesday, the State Board of Education resolved a remaining contentious issue: the definition of an “ineffective teacher.” It decided not to include teachers with intern credentials in the definition after much testimony from former intern teachers and districts that readily hire them. Read the article featured in EdSource.

A Teacher’s Tips On How To Get Kids Excited About STEM

Emerging diseases, energy sustainability and severe weather are just some of the global issues today’s students will be asked to solve using the skills they learn in the classroom, according to one local teacher. Kenneth L. Huff, a middle school science teacher in the Williamsville Central School District, was one of 10 teachers nationwide chosen to help promote the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum as a 2017 STEM Teacher Ambassador. Read the article featured in The Buffalo News.

Putting The ‘A’ In STEAM Education This School Year

As more students head back to school, we will continue to hear about how educators can successfully incorporate STEM education into curriculums from as early as Kindergarten. Whether it’s providing students with hands-on robotics tools where they can learn to code, program and design on their own, or using more in-class devices like Google Chromebooks that familiarize students with technology and problem-solving skills, there are many ways to integrate STEM into the classroom. However, as we put our efforts on fine-tuning these technical skills, we often lose sight of creativity. Read the article featured in eSchool News.

Your One-Stop Shop For ESSA Info On Teachers, Testing, Money, and More

For teachers, parents, principals, and others, the Every Student Succeeds Act is no longer on the horizon. Now it’s in their schools. Yes, ESSA has officially taken effect this school year. All but four states have turned in their plans for the education law’s implementation to the federal government—and some states’ plans have already gotten approved by the U.S. Department of Education. But there’s a decent chance you’re still gathering information and learning about ESSA. Read the article featured in Education Week.

The Partnership For 21st Century Learning Launches Framework To Help Today’s Youngest Learners Get Ready For Tomorrow’s Challenges

The Partnership For 21^st Century Learning launched a new learning framework to provide practical guidance on integrating 21st century skills into learning programs and experiences for the youngest learners. The framework extends the organizations’ body of work, integrating early learning into the college and career readiness continuum. Read the press release.

Teachers Are Quitting Because They’re Dissatisfied. That’s a Crisis, Scholars Say

States and districts must find ways to keep teachers in the profession—or they’re staring down the barrel of a growing teacher shortage, researchers and policymakers said at a panel discussion here on Tuesday. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Companies And Colleges Unite To Train ‘New Collar’ Students

So long white collar and blue collar. Now it’s all about the “new collar” job. In the current technological economy, where factories and production plants are closed or workers are replaced by computers, those computers need to be maintained and programmed. Enter “new collar” jobs — positions that require some specialized education (typically in a technical field), but not a four-year college degree. Read the article by NBC News.

Solving Real-World Problems Is Key To Ed Tech Success

As more classrooms are becoming one-to-one tech environments, schools are looking for more active ways for students to engage with classroom technology. One such way to do this is through problem-based learning, where students must use technology to find a solution. Read the article featured in Ed Tech.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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Introduction

STEM Sims provides over 100 simulations of laboratory experiments and engineering design products for applications in STEM classrooms. One particular simulation found on this site, Data Visualization, is a stimulating and imaginative tool for students to analyze a graphic representation of Napoleon’s 19th Century invasion of Russia. Hence, students use data provided with an 1889 graphic representation drawn by Charles Minard. The drawing is detailed and gives a variety of information about the military campaign. Subsequently, students are able to imagine they are military historians investigating and making inferences to analyze the success or the campaign. As is the case with all STEM SIMs software, Data Visualization is aligned with national (NGSS) standards (see below) and is compatible with state standards as well:

• MS-PS4.C – Information Technologies and Instrumentation
• MS-ESS2.D – Weather and Climate

The simulation provides students with a brochure (see link below), a pre-assessment quiz, as well as introductory information about the concepts of Data Visualization. The simulation provides students with valuable data analysis skills; which offer an excellent content map that integrates mathematics, science, and social studies very well. Moreover, the activity challenges students to solve the problems of how and why the campaign failed, making it both engaging for students and stresses the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, e.g., Analysis and Evaluation.

Brochure: https://stemsims.com/simulations/data-visualization/brochure/brochure.pdf?version=2017-01-10

STEM Sims provides four separate lesson plans for this simulation (see links below) and provides an excellent learning opportunity for students while minimizing the planning needed by teachers:

Lesson 1: https://stemsims.com/simulations/data-visualization/lessons/lesson-1.pdf?version=2017-01-10

Lesson 2: https://stemsims.com/simulations/data-visualization/lessons/lesson-2.pdf?version=2017-01-10

Lesson 3: https://stemsims.com/simulations/data-visualization/lessons/lesson-3.pdf?version=2017-01-10

Lesson 4: https://stemsims.com/simulations/data-visualization/lessons/lesson-4.pdf?version=2017-01-10

Conclusion

Data Visualization, much like the other simulations on this site, gives students the opportunity to learn authentic and integrated STEM concepts. Moreover, this simulation provides science teachers with a valuable opportunity to work across the curriculum with other subjects. Therefore, science teachers will have the opportunity to work with other teachers and make more diverse connections with their science students. Consider signing-up for a free trial to evaluate this excellent simulation for your classroom and try to determine where this simulation fits into your instructional planning.

For a free trial, visit https://stemsims.com/account/sign-up

Recommended System Qualifications:

• Operating system: Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.7
• Browser: Chrome 40, Firefox 35, Internet Explorer 11, or Safari 7
• Java 7, Flash Player 13

Single classroom subscription: $169 for a 365-day subscription and includes access for 30 students and 100 simulations.
Product Site: https://stemsims.com/

Edwin P. Christmann is a professor and chairman of the secondary education department and graduate coordinator of the mathematics and science teaching program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Anthony Balos is a graduate student and a research assistant in the secondary education program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania

What could be better than one anisotropic magnetoresistance magnetic field sensor? How about three anisotropic magnetoresistance magnetic field sensors and a Hall effect sensor as well! Pack them all into a lightweight watertight housing with a rechargeable battery and wired or wireless connectivity and you’ve got yourself a Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor.

Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor

I’ve been a fan of Vernier’s magnetic field sensors for decades, ever since the 1990s when my earth science students used the sensors with their primitive Apple laptops in the fields, hills, and caves of Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. 

Back then the magnetic field sensor was long cabled tube with amplification box that connected to a computer via a wired and powered interface box of some variety (Bluetooth hadn’t yet cut it’s teeth in classroom electronics yet so adding “less” to wire was years away). Still, the students loved making sine waves of magnetic field strength within the futuristic Logger software. Measuring the earth’s magnetic field, as well as the orientation of two thousand-year old basalt flows. Students could pick up a broken piece of basalt and using the Vernier Magnetic Field Sensor re-orient the stone in relation to the larger background rocks.

In the classroom, the student used the Vernier Magnetic Field Sensor to locate and map magnetic objects buried in sand, and even hypothesize about the objects size, shape, depth, and density using a control set of objects and sandbox.

Today Vernier offers a wireless Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor as part of their Go Direct series of sensors. Back in the 1990s it was a substantial update when the DIN connector changed to a BTA connector, and the beige serial connection box morphed into the translucent LabPro. To think that a couple blinking lights was exciting feedback from a battery-powered interface! 

Go Direct sensors are a new class of Vernier probeware that evolved out of almost 40 years of science teaching hardware and software that built in or bolted on advancements in consumer technology including replaceable battery power, USB connectors, rechargeable batteries, mobile device compatibility, touch screens, multiple inputs, online support, digital curriculum, wireless communications, more touch screens, low energy Bluetooth, and now universal power and data connectivity using the EPS standard.

Today’s topic is the Go Direct Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor. The sensor is a breakthrough in capability, size, weight, price, and most important performance. The Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor measures magnetic field strength along three planes within one sensor. The 12.2 centimeter long probe (19 cm overall) has a tiny 0.7 cm footprint on the tip allowing the probe’s proboscis to be inserted inside some small spaces such as inside solenoids with no clumsy cables, or probe rotations to mimic three-axis measurements.

But should the need for a cabled connection between Go Direct sensor and digital device, that is certainly possible as well. Using the same micro-USB port that charges the internal battery, the Go Direct sensor can be hard-plugged directly into a computer. Why go wired when you could be wireless? Good question. The backwards compatibility allowing a copper connection over an electromagnetic one expands the usability of the sensor. A little-discussed element in the science lab is sacrificial computer or tablet. As technology ages, it looses it reliability, connectivity and security. By being able to buy the most modern digital sensor yet plug it into an obsolete machine for lab work fresh life is breathed  into old tech. The Go Direct concept is also a significant upgrade when using BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) science classes because an old Windows machine will work along side a Macbook Pro next to a Chromebook, next to an iPad, next to an iPhone or Android smartphone.

But on to the Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor. By using multiple sensors built into a single  33 gram probe, the nimble Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor can be waved  about like a magic wand, or maybe more like a symphony conductor’s baton as the student conducts their experiments. And at only 33 grams, that almost 14 Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensors per pound.

So how does the sensor work? It uses two methods of measuring magnetic fields. The tip of the sensor has a +/- 5 mT chip that applies the property William Thompson (aka Lord Kelvin) observed in 1856, a phenomenon now called anisotropic magnetoresistance or AMR.

So what do you get when you mix the quantum physics effects of spin-orbit interaction with the magnetization of a material? Magic? Well actually anisotropic magnetoresistance. But it seems like magic. Ever wonder how a digital compass works? Like the kind in cell phone apps and GPS receivers. Do you think there’s a little magnet spinning in your phone? Actually, there might be, but not for the compass. Moving metal in a phone is how it vibrates when a call or text comes in. In the case of anisotropic magnetoresistance, there is an effect on electrical resistance between the direction of magnetization and its angle relative to an electrical current. Maximum electrical resistance occurs when the magnetic field is parallel to the direction of the electrical current. And of course the sensor must be calibrated for the job it will do.

In order to determine polarity of the magnetic field, a thin film of permalloy has strips of gold (or aluminum) laid across it inclined at forty-five degrees. With the current unable to flow along the normal path of least resistance, instead it is offset at and angle and thus forcing it to have a dependance around a neutral point. Like I said, magic.

Back in 1960 at the General Conference on Weights and Measures, the unit of Tesla was announced. One tesla is equal to one weber per square meter with the weber (Wb) being the SI unit of magnetic flux. The weber is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber. 

Measuring the X-direction Magnetic Field Magnetic fields that point in the same direction the wand is pointing are recorded as positive, and fields that point in the opposite direction are recorded as negative. Thus, the magnetic field of the Earth will register as a positive field when the wand is pointed toward the magnetic pole in the Earth’s northern hemisphere, which is a South magnetic pole. When the wand is aligned with a permanent magnet and pointed toward the South pole of a magnet it will also record a positive field.

Measuring y- and/or z-directions The marks on the sides of the wand, at the tip, indicate the y- and z-directions of positive magnetic field measurements, as well as marking the location within the housing where the ±5 mT magnetic field sensor is located. This is important for consistent placing of the sensor and accurately measuring the distance between the sensor and the source of a magnetic field.

In the case of the Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor measurements of +/-5 mT are possible as well as measurements of +/-130 mT. How can this be, you might ask, with no switch between a high and low setting like on previous magnetic field sensors? Great question. Part of the magic of this sensor is that it is actually multiple sensors. About five millimeters from the tip of the sensor is the +/-5 mT anisotropic magnetoresistance sensor, and about 10.5mm from the tip is the +/-130 mT Hall effect sensor.

The tip of the sensor is noted with three embossed dots indicating the actual location of the sensors with two labeled as Y and Z with the third dot on the very end of the probe completing the triple capabilities of the Go Direct Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor

Just upstream a centimeter on the probe’s shaft is a Hall effect sensor for measuring a larger amount of magnetic flux. The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference across an electrical conductor but transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to a magnetic field perpendicular to the current. Edwin Hall discovered the effect in 1879 while working on his doctoral degree at Johns Hopkins University. If only we could all be so lucky. And Hall did all this work almost two decades before the electron was even discovered!

At total of six data channels are measurable with the Go Direct Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor: X, Y, and Z magnetic field, and X, Y, and Z 130 mT magnetic field.

The durable sensor is water resistant, but the ~2.4 GHz of the Bluetooth signal is not. So underwater measurements would be a good candidate for using a USB wire.

The software to make the Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor really go to work is called Graphical Analysis 4.  So powerful is GA4 that it will get its own writeup in the future. But don’t wait for that day. Download it for free now.

For when you want to hold the Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor stationary, there are many solutions. No tripod mount is on the sensor, but the sensor fits wonderfully in the Joby GripTight ONE Mount which then can be attached to a tripod. Of course you could also just use a rubber band.

Conducting experiments and inspections with magnets is as easy as waving your magic wand. Don’t have a magic wand? Then use the next best thing, a Go Direct Vernier Three-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor.

In 2015, the National Fire Protection Association released a revised version of NFPA 45 that included a new chapter titled “Educational and Instructional Laboratory Operations,” which applies to K–12 school laboratories. The new chapter provides fire protection and safety requirements for new and existing educational laboratories doing experiments or demonstrations using hazardous materials.

Most state legislatures will eventually adopt the updated NFPA 45 standard, meaning it is or will become a legal safety standard that school administration and teachers must follow

The Specifics

The first section (12.2: “Instructor Responsibilities”) of the new chapter clearly states that in a demonstration or experiment using hazardous materials, the teacher is required to:

• perform a documented hazard risk assessment,

• provide a safety review to students,

• provide adequate personal protective equipment, and

• place a safety barrier between students and the demonstration or experiment to prevent personal injury.

Furthermore, this section states that laboratory teachers must be trained and knowledgeable in fire safety procedures, emergency plans, lab hazards, appropriate PPE, and conducting an appropriate hazard risk assessment.

The second section (12.3 “Chemical Storage and Handling”) directs teachers to store bulk quantities of chemicals in locked rooms outside the classroom or store portioned amounts for each class session in a locked cabinet inside the lab. The second section also includes the following guidelines:

• Quantities of chemicals should not exceed the pre-laboratory unit quantities specified in local fire or building codes.

• Bulk quantities of chemicals in a prep room should be dispensed outside of the classroom or lab.

• If the lab does not have a prep room, the quantities of chemicals must be kept in locked cabinets before students arrive in the classroom or lab.

• The minimum amount of chemicals needed must be transferred to a smaller, appropriately labeled bottle.

Section 12.3.2 (“Performance of Experiments or Demonstrations”) again requires specific actions on the part of the teacher. For instance:

• Experiments or demonstrations must be performed in a location with access to an exit.

• Experiments or demonstrations involving hazardous quantities of fumes, vapors, particulates, or gases must be operated within a chemical fume hood.

• If it’s not possible to perform the activity in a fume hood, it must be performed behind an impact-resistant plastic or tempered glass safety shield.

• If the activity is performed outside of a fume hood where a shield is not used, students must observe the activity from at least 3 m (10 ft.) away.

• Activities using flammable liquids and open flames must be performed by a knowledgeable instructor.

• Teachers must review the hazards with students, required PPE, and review of emergency procedures.

In the end

NFPA 45 (2015) provides clear direction for science teachers to conduct safer demonstrations or experiments with students. The standard does not, however, prohibit the use of flammable solvents in school laboratories.

Submit questions regarding safety in K–12 to Ken Roy at safesci@sbcglobal.net, or leave him a comment below. Follow Ken Roy on Twitter: @drroysafersci.

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Among the most commonly used tools in the science classroom are those that allow students to collect and manipulate data, including Microsoft Excel, Graphical Analysis, and Google Sheets. This month, we focus on one of the benefits of Google Sheets that sets it apart from similar tools: the add-ons.

If you’re new to add-ons, first look under the add-ons menu in Google Sheets and click “get add-ons.” Once there, you may search for add-ons by category (i.e., Business Tools, Education, Productivity, Social & Communication, and Utilities).

Finding data
Sometimes simply finding data related to a certain scientific content area can be challenging. With the Knoema Data Finder add-on, students can browse a large database of data sets that can be immediately imported into a brand-new Google sheet. This is a great way to get students started on manipulating data.

Representing data
Students may then need to represent their data via equations or statistical representations. g(Math) for Sheets allows students to quickly create and insert complex formulas and graphs that may not be possible with the spreadsheet calculations or formulae included in the Sheets application.

Regular users of Google Forms know that the data collected by the form interface is usually destined for a Google Sheet. Unfortunately, each time a new submission is entered into a Google Sheet that contains Form results, a new row is created, and the formula is removed. The copyDown add-on resolves this issue by automatically applying a formula template to every new row of data for every Form entry. Through copyDown, students can predetermine what data they need to collect as well as the projected calculations that they need to use when they reference submitted data.

Once your students have begun to actively collect data from across a global community, they could represent that data visually by location across the world. Because certain physical properties (e.g., volume) can be different based upon variables such as elevation, temperature, and atmospheric pressure, ask students to connect those variables to the changes in properties to extend their thinking.

The Geocode add-on (sample map, above) can help make this connection. Geocode will automatically create a Google Map with placement markers at every location of submitted data. Just make sure that your students collect the address closest to the position of the collected data. When students scroll over the data points on the map, the content included in each row of data will also appear. The map can even be filtered based on selected columns of data. When this is combined with the calculations done by the copyDown add-on, students should be able to see patterns of data trends across the globe, thus strengthening the computational thinking skills involved with making predictions and forecasting results.

Conclusion
No matter how your students use Google Sheets, add-ons improve the functionality of the tool. There are hundreds of add-ons to help meet the instructional goals of your lessons and to help students achieve and learn.

Ben Smith (ben@edtechinnovators.com) is an educational technology program specialist, and Jared Mader (jared@edtechinnovators.com) is the director of educational technology, for the Lincoln Intermediate Unit in New Oxford, Pennsylvania. They conduct teacher workshops on technology in the classroom nationwide.

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the September issue of The 
Science Teacher journal from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

Get Involved With NSTA!

Join NSTA today and receive The Science Teacher,
the peer-reviewed journal just for high school teachers; to write for the journal, see our Author Guidelines, Call for Papers, and annotated sample manuscript; connect on the high school level science teaching list (members can sign up on the list server); or consider joining your peers at future NSTA conferences.

Within an understated white plastic box is found a dynamic and versatile sensor that effectively measures many forms of light, and gives the science class a peek into how we learn about the universe we live in. Yes, the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor could easily go unnoticed in the science room’s box of technology. It would be understandable to think that this is just another sensor designed to fit into a lineup of other sensors. In fact there really isn’t much on the sensor to indicate just how powerful and versatile this particular sensor really is. There is only one button, the on/off switch. There is a tripod socket, a few words here and there printed on the case, and two apertures, a short black tube for spot measurements, and a flat white circle for ambient measuring. Like I said, uneventful.

But like most amazing gadgets these days, the real show begins when the device is paired with its software. So this little box measuring not much more than 2 x 4 x 7.5 cm actually has the capability to measure:

-Red light

-Green light

-Blue light

-White light

-Illuminance in lux

-Illuminance in lumens per square meter

-PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) in sunlight

-Solar Irradiance in watts per square meter

-Ultra-violet A (UVA)

-Ultra-violet B (UVB)

-Calculate the ultra-violet index (UVI)

Further, the sensor can be so simple in appearance because the data leaves the sensor at the speed of light (in air) traveling over low energy Bluetooth radio waves to any receiving computer, tablet or phone. With a range of about 10m and a easily replaceable CR2032 battery, the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor is a about as perfect a light tool as a teacher can imagine. And speaking of light, it’s pretty much the only thing we get from the universe beyond the earth besides meteorites, solar wind, and sample return space missions, and that list is pretty short.

There is an abundance of concepts to study and light to measure so it follows that there is no shortage of traditional and innovative experiments for any grade level. The Pasco Wireless Light Sensor can easily measure the presence, absence and quantity of a handful of different kinds of light. And with each measurement, there is an ever expanding realm of possibilities, variations, and real-world analogs.

For instance, measuring sunlight is an obvious use of the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor, but wait, there’s more. That same sunlight can be reflected off surfaces, filtered through an endless number materials, fabrics, lotions, and films. UV through clothing can be measured with the fabric dry and wet. Sunscreens can be tested. Sunglasses, auto glass, and windows can be explored. And all of the above can be refined further by applying variables of distance and angles.

A bonus about the size of this sensor is that it happens to be the right size to fit into cell phone cradle or tripod mount. This fact allows the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor to be used effectively in existing and handy stands that can aim the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor as needed.

Color is fair game for the sensor with the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor’s unique ability (especially for the $55 price tag) to measure four colors of light…well three colors and their combination totaling up to white. The quantity of light moving through a filter, say sunglasses, is rarely across a uniform distribution of visible wavelengths. While we often worry about the amount of UV and IR in our sun shades, there are implications for colors. If sunglasses change colors or make them look similar, say green and red, then horizontal traffic lights could be read backwards. Another example is that sunglasses used around water may need to filter much more blue light than sunglasses used for other sports.

The inverse square law can be verified using little more than a meter stick, light source, and of course the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor.

Graphic of the inverse square law. Source: Wikipedia.

Two different apertures allow the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor to measure ambient light and narrower directional light sensor. The ambient sensor measures UVA, UVB, and UV index. The spot sensor measures general light level in several units, as well as relative intensity of red, green and blue light, or all three together as white light.

Bluetooth 4 is the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor communication method with iOS and Android mobile devices, and Mac and PC computers. A list of compatible hardware and software is listed here.

By removing the cables and going wireless, it’s possible to put the sensor in places where it might not be safe to be within the usual meter of wire, such as out in the sun for an hour. The Pasco Wireless Light Sensor can also be set up as a lab station where students log into the sensor to gather their data, then move on to the next station.

The Pasco Wireless Light Sensor is an excellent tool to teach science, and to do science. It’s tiny form factor and huge set of capabilities, but what makes it even more of a go-to solution is that the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor talks to smartphones putting a tremendous amount of science lab into a single pants pocket.

Light is an amazing thing. And even though its wildly prolific in the known universe, it’s Wikipedia entry is still less than half the length of that of Michael Jackson’s entry. Or about the same as an avocado. But whether  you think light is a particle, a wave, a combination explained by electromagnetic, or quanta, or likely all (or none) of the above, light is an important aspect of almost every scientific subject. Which, given that line of reasoning, the Pasco Wireless Light Sensor just might be the most universal sensor when learning science.

In light of the national opioid epidemic, schools need to be prepared in case a student overdoses. Consider:

• In 2016, 4.8% of high school seniors reported using opioids for nonmedical reasons (NIDA 2017c).
• From 2002 to 2015, annual opioid-related deaths grew 2.8-fold to 33,091, says the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA 2017a).
• More than 90 Americans die every day from opioid overdoses (NIDA 2017b).

Opioids is a term that now refers to both synthetic chemicals such as oxycodone (OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet) and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet) as well as drugs derived from opium poppies, such as codeine, morphine, and heroin. Opioids act on brain receptors that then produce dopamine, which causes feelings of euphoria.

The rise of prescription opioid abuse in the United States can be traced to the late 1990s, when pharmaceutical companies “reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers,” NIDA says (2017b). “This led to widespread misuse of these medications.”

The use of non-prescription opioids, including heroin, often laced with fentanyl, a much more powerful synthetic opioid, have added to the death rate.

A good way to introduce the risk to students is the video Chasing the Dragon (see “On the web”), which features interviews with recovering opioid addicts who started using in high school.

A risk factor for youth is having parents with opioid prescriptions, according to a recent study (McDonald et al. 2017). Among 681 adults with children ages 7 to 17, some 88% reported that they did not lock away their opioids.

High school teachers should know the signs of an opioid overdose, NIDA says (2016a), including:

• pale or clammy face,
• limp body,
• purple or blue lips or fingernails,
• vomiting or gurgling noises,
• cannot be awakened or unable to speak, and
• breathing or heartbeat slows or stops.

Every second counts when someone is overdosing (NIDA 2016a). This is why some high schools now stock the medication naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Even non-medically trained people can administer naloxone nasal sprays and auto-injectors (NIDA 2016b).

“Naloxone has the potential to immediately restore breathing to a victim experiencing an opioid overdose,” according to a National Association of School Nurses policy statement recommending that schools have the rescue drug (NASN 2015). “Naloxone saves lives.”

Dr. Adrienne Weiss-Harrison, medical director of a New York school district, recently told a reporter: “We have [naloxone] the same way we have defibrillators and EpiPens” (Harris 2017).

Michael E. Bratsis is a former senior editor for KidsHealth in the Classroom (kidshealth.org/classroom).

On the web
Chasing the Dragon documentary and discussion guide: http://bit.ly/2cZSMuC, http://bit.ly/2rJA962

Order form for a free carton of naloxone nasal spray for high schools: www.narcan.com/partnerships

Lesson plans: http://nyti.ms/2qDcC2h, http://bit.ly/2sPRGJR

Student resources: www.teenshealth.org/en/teens/prescription-drug-abuse.html, www.teenshealth.org/en/teens/addictions.html

References
Harris, E.A. The New York Times. 2017. In School Nurse’s Room: Tylenol, Bandages and an Antidote to Heroin. March 29. http://nyti.ms/2ohU7PX

McDonald, E.M., A. Kennedy-Hendricks, E.E. McGinty, W.C. Shields, C.L. Barry, and A.C. Gielen. 2017. Safe storage of opioid pain relievers among adults living in households with children. Pediatrics 139 (3). http://bit.ly/2rO3BmA

National Association of School Nurses (NASN). 2015. Naloxone use in the school setting: The role of the school nurse. http://bit.ly/2rwQRl1

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). 2016a. Naloxone saves lives. https://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/naloxone-saves-lives

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). 2016b. Should schools be ready for opioid overdoses? http://bit.ly/2dunOcY

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). January 2017a. Overdose death rates. http://bit.ly/1RxOFVr

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). May 2017b. Opioid crisis. http://bit.ly/2sLyfSS

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). 2017c. Opioids. www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the September issue of The 
Science Teacher journal from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

Get Involved With NSTA!

Join NSTA today and receive The Science Teacher,
the peer-reviewed journal just for high school teachers; to write for the journal, see our Author Guidelines, Call for Papers, and annotated sample manuscript; connect on the high school level science teaching list (members can sign up on the list server); or consider joining your peers at future NSTA conferences.