| Description | First and second year students in Croton-Harmon High Schoolıs three year science research course will investigate the impact of the woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae ), an aphid-like insect, on several species of hemlock (Tsuga spp.) ---with a specific focus on the effectiveness of integrated pest management (IPM) approaches in slowing hemlock mortality rate. Students will use Dialog, an online international database, to access relevant journal articles. Based on his/her reading, each student will design an experiment involving the use of the ESEM. One experiment will be chosen and carried out, hopefully in conjunction with a scientist/mentor in the field. The student whose experiment is selected will operate the microscope remotely. The ESEM session can be viewed by all Science Research students, all Biology students, andmiddle school life science students (approximately 300 students) in the high school auditorium using a Dell lap top, a high quality video projector, and a T1 line. Images can be captured with a digital camera and printed on a large format printer. Moreover, I believe that the session can be carried into individual classrooms throughout the district as well (the elementary, middle and high schools are linked together by intranet and a T1 line). Having worked as an electron microscopist for 10 years at Yale Medical Center before I became a teacher and having participated in the Rockefeller Universityıs Science Outreach Program since 1992, I have long been interested in helping students experience the thrill of looking at living things very very closely---I will always be fascinated by the incredible level of organization that persists even as the magnification increases. I am certain that if our project is selected, students will be very actively involved. Moreover, I have been seeking a way to immerse the Science Research students in designing an experiment. All too often, students read and become highly knowledgeable in their topic of interest, find a mentor, and then have difficulty developing an experiment. This project will give students a focus and a vehicle for developing a potentially valuable experiment using technologically advanced equipment. Hopefully, this is the wave of the future for science education! Most of the equipment we plan to use in this project was obtained through a $43,000.00 Learning Technology grant I received from the New York State Education Department in 1997, for integrating technology into the Science Research curriculum. Bugscope provides an ideal opportunity to develop this goal further than Iıd thought possible! My training in teaching Science Research was funded by the National Science Foundation, which recognizes the strength of this particular curriculum. I hope to develop a model lesson with Bugscope that can be used/adapted by other Science Research teachers. |
