You’re celebrating a romantic little restaurant or some other special place. Your significant other presents you with a small velvet box containing a huge diamond ring or flawless diamond cuff links. Would you like the sparkling gems any less if you knew they came from a lab and not a diamond mine?

This installment of the “Science of Innovation” video series—Synthetic Diamonds—describes an innovative process that might just be the beginning of that dazzling rock on your finger—no mining, no waiting millions of years. Synthetic diamonds (no, not cubic zirconia, but real, 100 percent diamond) are in your immediate future.

Synthesize your STEM efforts with this and other videos in the “Science of Innovation” series from the collaborative team of NBC Learn, United States Patent & Trademark Office, the National Science Foundation, and NSTA. One of the reasons the USPTO got involved in this effort to begin with was to show how the principles of intellectual property and innovation can help further motivate and engage your students in authentic STEM experiences. By learning how people invent new things and applying the creative design and engineering process in your classroom, students begin to understand the essence of the fields of science and engineering. The series is available cost-free on www.NBCLearn.com, www.science360.gov, and www.uspto.gov/education. Take a look, and then let us know what you think!

–Judy Elgin Jensen

Image of the largest model of diamond in the world created as a Summer Exhibition for the Royal Society of Chemistry. It contains 31,395 crystal clear balls representing the carbon atoms. A real diamond containing 31,395 atoms would be less than one billionth of a carat, invisible to the eye, and worth less than a penny. Courtesy of Bruce Stokes.

Video

SOI: Synthetic Diamonds highlights the research and innovation related to the production of synthetic diamonds.

Lesson plans

Two versions of the lesson plans help students build background and develop questions they can explore how the physical properties of diamonds, both synthetic and natural, make them useful not only as jewelry, but also as industrial abrasives and engraving tools, in medicine to deliver cancer-fighting drugs to affected parts of the body and to cover openings in X-ray chambers and other types of imagining devices, in high-end audio equipment, and as semiconductor coatings for computer chips, among many other uses. Both include strategies to support students in their own quest for answers and strategies for a more focused approach that helps all students participate in hands-on inquiry.

SOI: Synthetic Diamonds, A Science Perspective models how students might investigate a question using media resources.

SOI: Synthetic Diamonds, An Engineering Perspective shows how students might investigate structure and its relationship to strength.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans: [contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

Guest Post by LaMoine L. Motz, PhD, Sandra West Moody, PhD, and James T. Biehle, AIA

The cover article “Science on Wheels” in the April 2013 issue of NSTA Reports raises a number of issues which, in our opinion, fly in the face of good judgment. While we recognize there are many schools with inadequate science teaching facilities, using unsafe practices to provide science spaces can be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Recent research reveals how widespread the problem of “floating” science teachers is with more than 1,000 Texas science teachers reporting they have to teach off of a cart (Kennedy, L. and West, S., 2013).
In the NSTA Guide to Planning School Science Facilities, 2nd Edition (hereinafter NSTA Guide), we discuss a number of safety issues which, if not corrected, can lead to accidents and lawsuits. A particularly egregious example of such a safety issue is described in “Science on Wheels” where a teacher states that “mostly what we had to move on a cart were just solutions.” The NSTA Guide mentions just such an activity on page 42 in describing some of the impacts of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on science facilities and instruction. There are numerous reports of cart accidents including cart wheels sticking in a shallow doorway threshold resulting in the cart stopping and a glass jug of acid falling off which produced toxic fumes and students running around corners into and knocking the cart over, subsequently breaking jars of chemicals and equipment. (Laboratory Safety Institute, 2013)
On pages 41 and 42 of the NSTA Guide, under a discussion of tort law, the situation in the schools mentioned in “Science on Wheels” could readily be defined as “misfeasance” (a principal assigning a science class to a non-science classroom), “nonfeasance” (failure to provide an adequate number of science laboratory/classrooms, and “malfeasance” (forcing an employee to assume an unnecessary risk or use unsafe methods.

As often emphasized in our “Planning and Designing School Science Facilities“ workshops and seminars at NSTA regional and national conferences, and also numerous state conferences, the person who will know about this article (“Science on Wheels”) in the case of a lawsuit resulting from such patently unsafe practices is the plaintiff’s attorney.  NSTA President–Elect Juliana Texley, a former superintendent, describes working with an architect who had no idea of what it was like during class changes in a middle school. The architect was instructed to stand on one tile in the middle of the corridor as classes changed and nearly got swept away. We believe it is a mistake for the NSTA Reports to suggest that it would be safe to move “solutions” around the halls from room to room on a cart.
Science teachers and students are at risk whether the teacher moves from one science room to another science room or is required to teach in non-science rooms. The greater risk is, of course, for science students to have to do science activities in a non-science room lacking required safety equipment such as eyewashes. When a room is used for laboratory activities, it becomes a “science laboratory” and is subject to fire code occupancy load requirements.

Further, leaving science materials in a non-science classroom, supervised primarily by a teacher not trained in safe science instruction, is an invitation to further lawsuits due to students and, possibly, teachers being injured as they move, or otherwise deal with science equipment and materials left in, say, an English classroom. Leaving science materials in a room with a non-science trained teacher is extremely unsafe.
The prep room concept described at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School sounds like a further invitation to a lawsuit if there is not a door which can be locked. Prep rooms must be off limits to students, protected by lockable doors. It is possible to design lockable mobile tables that will fit through a standard 36” wide door but having a large opening into the classroom will invite curious students to explore an area they should not enter.
Some suggest we should recognize that many science teachers are in the same predicament discussed in the NSTA Reports article and we should propose ways to teach science more safely when adequate science teaching facilities are not available. However, we strongly believe that it is not possible to safely teach an effective science program in a general purpose classroom as virtually all such classrooms are unequipped with even the basic safety equipment such as a fire blanket and fire extinguisher. In visiting more than 450 schools, nationally, almost none have a sink, and we have yet to see a safety shower or even portable eyewash in a general purpose classroom. We believe it is our responsibility to emphasize that safe science can only be taught in a properly equipped science classroom and that the practice of using general purpose classrooms for science and transporting chemicals and equipment from room to room, as described in “Science on Wheels,” should be strongly discouraged to district patrons, school boards, administrators, architects and facilities directors.
Constructing an adequate number of safe, spacious and well-equipped science lab/classrooms and appropriately located and designed science storage facilities should be seen as an investment in the future. The alternative is to take the approach discussed in “Science on Wheels” which can result in spending a significant amount of money defending unnecessary lawsuits instead of providing a safe science learning environment.
 

References:

Motz, L., Biehle, J., and West, S. (2007). NSTA Guide to Planning School Science Facilities, 2^nd Edition. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
Kennedy, L & West, S. 2013.  Safety in Texas secondary science classrooms: 1990-2007.Proceedings of the 116^th. Annual Meeting of the Texas Academy of Science, Kerrville, TX p .42
Laboratory Safety Institute, 2003. Learning by Accident, www.labsafety.org/ Natick, MA

With the heavy spring rains in my neighborhood there has been some erosion of soil on a slope in the park and soil from the baseball field has been washed across the sidewalk. There are not many fiction or non-fiction books for young children that include a discussion about soil erosion, or erosion in general. If your class becomes interested in learning about erosion, they can write their own story, and illustrate it with photos or drawings of places where they saw soil washed away by water or blown away by wind. See the resources on “dialogic reading,” listed at the bottom, to learn how this interactive shared reading experience with an adult and a few children supports gains in reading.
Children can make a model of a neighborhood in sand in a plastic tub or in the sandbox and then make it “rain” to demonstrate erosion.
If indoors, use a tray or baking pan with sides 6-9cm tall, and make a layer of damp sand that halfway fills the pan. Have children shape the sand into a landscape with hills, mesas, valleys, river channels and depressions for ponds. Because sand allows water to flow between the grains, their rivers and ponds will not hold water, but water will flow down towards the low points in their landscape before sinking into the sand. Provide many small objects for children to use to create a scene to represent their community—small blocks for buildings, pieces of bias tape or strips of cardboard for roads, twigs for people, pebbles for animals, and small leaves for trees.
When their set-up is complete, have them draw or photograph it. Change the setting on the spray bottle to a single stream, or provide an empty condiment bottle with a single hole. The children can now spray or pour more water to move the sand and observe how moving (eroding) the sand affects their community. Have them stop and draw or photograph the set-up as it changes. When the children are finished eroding their landscape, pour the water off outside because wet sand can clog a sink.
Have the children use their drawings and photographs as illustrations for a book. Ask them to write or dictate what they saw happening, and add any comments that you wrote down during the activity. This is your class’s book about erosion!
Here are two resources about “dialogic reading,” a way for children to get the most out of storytime.
“Getting the Most Out of Picture Books,” a video series on dialogic reading from the Getting Ready to Read pages of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Inc.
“Lap Reading with Kindergarteners” by Herman T. Knoph and H. Mac Brown in Young Children September 2009.
 

What do we mean when we say “STEM education”? For years now, we’ve recited that STEM means “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” We’re often somewhat less precise when it comes to defining what STEM education is. Rodger Bybee’s latest book, The Case for Education: Challenges and Opportunities, takes a critical look at the many diverse explanations that exist in education today and provides a direction to STEM education, if not a definition.
Bybee states that, in his experience, discussions regarding STEM education fall into three separate but related goals.
“Education should contribute to:

• a STEM-literate society
• a general workforce with 21st-century competencies, and
• an advanced research and development workforce focused on innovation.

The broader category, which applies to everyone, is STEM literacy,  which refers to an individual’s

• knowledge, attitudes, and skills to identify questions and problems in life situations, explain the natural and designed world, and draw evidence-based conclusions about STEM-related issues;
• understanding of the characteristic features of STEM disciplines as forms of human knowledge, inquiry, and design;
• awareness of how STEM disciplines shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments; and
• willingness to engage in STEM-related issues and with the ideas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as a constructive, concerned, and reflective citizen.”

Throughout the book, Bybee provides practical guidance and suggestions for STEM reforms that are appropriate for varied contexts. Thought-provoking questions, such as STEM Education Seems to Be the Answer—What Was the Question?; If STEM Is an Opportunity, What is the Federal Government’s Role?; How Can a State, District, or School Develop a Coherent Strategy for STEM Education?; and What Is Your Action Plan for STEM Education? are addressed in the chapters to provide individuals in leadership roles with a better understanding of how to take action on STEM initiatives.
Read a sample chapter:  How Is STEM Education Reform Different From Other Education Reforms?
This book is also available as an e-book.

A recent Huffington Post article (Kiera Wilmot, 16, Arrested And Expelled For Explosive ‘Science Experiment’) has drawn quite a bit of attention from our readers. And it certainly got our attention as well. The National Science Teachers Association promotes excellence and innovation in science teaching for all, and we value the need for supervision and safety. But we also want to encourage curiosity and experimentation. Bloggers have been weighing, for example http://bit.ly/104LjsX. We would like to hear from science teachers—is this an isolated incident or do you worry about students being criminally charged, and does it put a damper on your science program? Do your students express concern about exploring for themselves? Please join the conversation! And please use the safety resources below should you need guidance in this area.
Science Safety Resources

• The Integral Role of Laboratory Investigations in Science Instruction (NSTA Position Statement)
• NSTA’s Safety Portal, with guidelines and links to a wealth of safety resources, including guidelines from NSTA’s safety advisory board and safety resource lists by grade level. These links are collated from NSTA’s safety advisory board, various states’ departments of education, NSTA affiliates, news publications, and industry leaders. Please note that this resource compilation DOES NOT SUPERCEDE SCHOOL, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, LOCAL, STATE, OR FEDERAL LAWS, REGULATIONS, CODES, AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the science teachers and school administrators to use appropriate legal standards and best professional practices under duty of care to make it safer in the science laboratory.
• Farewell MSDSs; Welcome SDSs! (NSTA Reports; November 2012)
  Revisions to the Hazard Communication Standard by Occupational Safety & Health Administration published in May 2012 impact teachers, schools, and their chemical suppliers. The author notes the changes under the revisions and the training educators will be required to have.

Should your district require in-depth training in the subject, please contact Zipporah Miller (zmiller@nsta.org).
The NSTA Learning Center contains a wealth of resources, which can be searched by grade level, discipline,and so forth. A sampling is below.
Elementary
Setting the Scene
A chapter from Exploring Safely: A Guide for Elementary Teachers
Investigative science provides the opportunity for students to learn new skills. But it also means more work and responsibility for everyone. An active science program requires the distribution, use, and care of much more material and equipment than a textbook/workbook program. Classroom management is the first key to a safe learning environment—and to satisfaction for the teacher. This free selection includes the Table of Contents and Preface.
Imaginative Inventions
A chapter from More Picture-Perfect SCIENCE Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, K–4
Learners explore the invention process by learning about inventions throughout history and how inventions fill needs or wants, by improving existing inventions, and by keeping a toy invention journal. They further their understandings of the risks and benefits of inventions by testing toys and comparing the fun rating and the safety rating of each toy. This free selection includes the Table of Contents, Foreword, Preface, sections About the Authors and About the Picture-Perfect
Program, and reproducible instructional materials.
Middle Level
Setting the Scene: Basic Rules for a Safer Science Classroom
A chapter from Inquiring Safely: A Guide for Middle School Teachers
Six classes, six teachers—just navigating middle school is a voyage of discovery for early adolescents. Students are offered a confusing array of choices, many in science. Sometimes it seems teachers spend too much science class time teaching organization, caution, and control. But these skills—critical to making science experiences exciting and safe—are also important science processes. These years offer wonderful opportunities to capture students’ energy and channel it toward the excitement of scientific exploration. But everything teachers do in middle school science classrooms must recognize the developmental level of our young scientists and their penchant for risk-taking that we must temper sufficiently to promote safety. This free selection includes the Table of Contents, Foreword, Introduction, and References.
High School
Introduction to Safety in Science
A chapter from The NSTA Ready-Reference Guide to Safer Science, Volume 3
This chapter provides an overview of general safety practices for the classroom. Topics discussed are Making Adjustments for Mobility- Impaired Students, Laboratory Safety: Welcome Aboard!, Good-Bye MSDS, Hello SDS! Yes, NSTA’s Portal Into the Safety Zone, and Getting Students in the Safety Zone.
Safer Science: Personal Protective Equipment—It’s the Law!
Article from The Science Teacher
In addition to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) personal protective equipment (PPE) standard—OSHA Laboratory Standard 29CFR 1910.132—and other professional prudent practices, many states have protective eye devise statutes. PPE is third in the hierarchy approach to dealing with safety. In this priority list, the employer must first evaluate the feasibility of engineering controls and administrative procedures before considering the use of PPE. This month’s Safer Science column includes components that reflect the body of the PPE assessment that should be addressed by teachers, students, and supervisors in science laboratories or field experiences.
College
Setting the Scene: Safer Science in a Drive-Through Learning Community
A chapter from Science Safety in the Community College
Developing a responsible and safe introductory community college laboratory science program is a challenge. The subject matter is complex, requiring cerebral, technical, and mechanical skills. The prior knowledge and experiences of students are diverse—they range from retired professionals returning for intellectual stimulation to high school dropouts who have discovered the need for education and just passed their General Educational Development exams. The authors hope this book provides some of that guidance and that, more important, it reminds all involved that specific attention must be paid to safety for all laboratory science instruction. This free selection includes the Table of Contents and an Introduction.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is pleased to share the news that several of our publications have been named finalists for the 2013 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards. We would like to thank our staff. And more importantly, we’d like to thank the authors, reviewers, and field editors who collaborate with us daily to publish quality materials upon which teachers can rely. We could not bring our award-winning resources to the science education community without their years of experience and willingness to share their time and effort!
Beacon Award Finalist
NSTA Recommends Catalog
NSTA Press
(Catalogs)
Periodicals/Editorial Finalists
“Career of the Month”
By Luba Vangelova
The Science Teacher
(Department/Column, Adult)
“Drawing Out the Artist in Science Students”
By Al Camacho, Gary Benenson, and Carmen Patricia Rosas-Colin
Science and Children
(Feature Article, Adult)
“Sweetgrass Science”
By William Veal and Steven Nagy
Science and Children
(Feature Article, Adult)
“The Structure and Assessment of a Unique and Popular Interdisciplinary Science Course for Nonmajors”
By Tonya Laakko Train and David E. Gammon
Journal of College Science Teaching
(Learned Article, Adult)
Professional Development Finalist
Rise and Shine: A Practical Guide for the Beginning Science Teacher
By Linda Froschauer and Mary L. Bigelow
NSTA Press
(Methodology)

Communicating with parents and other caregivers is important for student success. The topic of parental involvement has been addressed in NSTA blogs and publications, with ideas for parent conferences, back-to-school nights or open houses, summer activities, and family science events. Here’s a quick look  at some of these ideas:
From the Ms. Mentor blog

• Facilitating Parental Support: My school wants to encourage more parental involvement. Any suggestions?
• Meet the Parents: I’m a new middle school science teacher, and the thought of back-to-school night is already making menervous. What should I expect? What should I do?
• Intergenerational Science Activities: My school is planning an Intergenerational Day, in which students invite grandparents or other guests to attend school for part of the day. We’re also inviting residents of a local retirement community. I’d like to participate with my fifth grade science classes, but I want our guests to be more than spectators. Do you have any suggestions for appropriate activities?
• Take-home projects: I’m thinking of requiring some “take-home” projects for students this year. (I teach at the elementary level). I think these would provide a good opportunity for students and parents to work together on science topics. Do you have any suggestions or guidelines?
• Vacation Activities for Students: How do you get families and students to participate in science in the summer? I’m looking for ideas to engage upper elementary students.

From the Early Years blog

• Involving families in early childhood science education
• Family Science: Ideas and Resources for Activities

From other NSTA publications

• Getting Families Involved: From February 2012 Science & Children
• Making a Night of Science: From February 2011 NSTA Reports 

Although many handheld technologies of Star Trek seem antiquated, or perhaps even steam punkish in todays world, there are still a few pieces of Treknata that we dream of. But that list just got one item shorter with the iGo wireless microscope. While not quite a Medical Tricorder, the iGo does capture the essence of Trekian magic with its scope in the right hand while the microscope image appearing on a tablet in the left hand (or vice-versa of course).

A medical tricorder would, in theory, allow the placement of a probe upon various parts of an injured subject in order to collect the data necessary for a proper diagnosis. Of course later iterations of the Enterprise’s wanderings utilized scanning tools that completely circumvented both the need for probes, and the interpretation of data. But that is a topic for another blog-perhaps one about the Standoff Patient Triage Tool.

The SmartScope iGo wireless microscope is a substantial push forward flattening the access to the microscopic world in the classroom. iPads and other tablets are rapidly becoming the digital hubs of powerful portable science laboratories that operate independent of power outlets, the greater internet, and often wires in general. SmartSchool’s iGo microscope opens many new inquiry avenues previously barred by wired network connections, power requirements, prohibitive costs, and complex user interfaces.

Priced about the same as one base model iPad Mini, the iGo Microscope boasts an intuitive interface complete with large focus wheel, adjustable LED lighting, and picture button all running on three rechargeable AA batteries (included). But the real thrill of iGo is found in combination with the free App named Wi-Viewer. The iOS Wi-Viewer app / Android app to shows, captures, and plays back the visual magic of the microscopic world.

The minimalist interface of Wi-Viewer includes just four buttons: one to turn on or off the real-time images from the iGo, one to capture a still image, one to start and stop video recording, and one to playback the captured content. At first launch the Wi-Viewer will ask if it can connect to the photo database on the tablet. If agreed to, then the images snapped with the iGo land in a familiar home on the tablet. And in case you didn’t know, if two iPads are connected using a sync cable and the camera connection kit USB dongle, the photos on the sync-cabled iPad will appear as importable images on the camera connection dongled iPad.

The published specifications of the iGo include a 3.5 hours of runtime per triad of AA batteries (YMMV), a maximum of 200x magnification (depending on device screen size), and a 10 meter wireless range which all seems about right in my tests.

 

What isn’t a promoted spec of this scope its 640×480 resolution. On the surface, the sub-megapixel number seems old school. However, the Smart Scope iGo is designed for tablet use and, in fact, has no interactivity with any device outside iPads and compatible Android tablets (equal to or greater than iOS 4.1 and Android 2.3). In other words, the apparent low resolution makes little difference since the visual output of the scope is within reasonable limits for tablet screens. Printing is another story. But three important issues must be considered beyond pure resolution numbers and they are 1) the video signal is being transmitted wirelessly from a 2) reasonably inexpensive digital microscope 3) fueled by 4.5v of rechargeable AA power. And note that an iGo with batteries masses out at not much over 200g.

Regarding the first generation iPad, (aka iPad 1, non-camera iPad), this scope works fine as long as you are running an updated version of iOS. So the iGo scope will breathe new life into an old iPad!

Where the iGo does preform off the charts is with its flexibility, simplicity, and speed of operation. For years I have professed the seeming heretical point of view that learning to use a microscope is a physics activity while the studying microscopic imagery is the actual purpose of a microscope. What I mean by this is the microscope, although necessary given the limitations of human eyesight, is actually an impediment to macroscopic inspections. The fewer barriers one places between the small object and the ability to view it, the better. The iGo makes macroscopic observations so intuitive that students will explore the world of the small with reckless abandon, and overt curiosity!

Focusing from infinity to the scope’s surface in less than one turn of the focus wheel brings the entire world into clear view through a natural motion of one opposable thumb that also points the scope.  There has been a bit of convergent evolution with handheld microscope designs with my prediction of something of stylus shape in the not-too-distant future. An interesting repository for design trajectories might be to mine an auto mechanic’s toolbox rather than a science laboratory from last century. Often, initial digital device designs are steeped in traditional morphology. One early school-based digital microscope, the Intel QX3 had more than a passing resemblance to a compound light microscope so it also inherited many of the limitations of the centuries-old design.  Therefore it is especially rewarding to have the latest digital microscope designs push function over familiar form. An FYI for those with geek leanings, the groundbreaking Intel QX3 had a resolution of 320×240 and an operation familiar to traditional microscopes.

The iGo is a 2.4GHz wireless device using the 802.11b/g/n protocols encouraging an interesting and welcome twist to multiple connections. Up to three compatible devices (iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android of any flavor can simultaneously tap into the video stream from the iGo meaning that the tablet’s user can control what video (MPEG4) and images (jpeg) are captured and when; all completely independent of the other two devices!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heuu7jwuF3w&feature=share&list=PL2yY153_kjIfWFDHAwg12ETKiSpDNEIgJ[/youtube]

 

The 802.11 wireless connection is a double-edged sword, however. Since a device can only log into one wireless network at a time, using the iGo with a classroom-projected image is limited to a hardwire connection through the dock port. Both Apple TV and most screen-throughput Apps running on projector-connected computers are off limits due to the single wireless channel connectivity. Since the iGo has a fairly robust 10m range (roughly line-of-sight), a projector-connected tablet can be stationary while the teacher and students use the scope to project objects of interest from anywhere in the classroom.

Anything we place between our retinas and the microscopic world can be considered a limitation. For the tablet ecosystem, the iGo Microscope just pushes those limitations down the road for later technology to solve. And some of that later tech might already be here…