The first CAVIAT bioscience class to participate in the iCREATE project is from Williams High School. CAVIAT instructor and science educator Michael Lee (center photo) brought his students to NAU to tour three different laboratories on February 26th. The students met in NAU's Wettaw building and toured the Imaging and Histology Core Facility (IHCF) with the Lab's Assistant Director Aubrey Funke (bottom left photo). Insects coated with gold (top center photo) are visualized with the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to see clear magnifications as small as 1/50th the width of a human hair! The students also saw the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and were able to use the Keyence Digital Microscope (photos left center and bottom right). Dr. Nathan Nieto (right side, second photo down) showed the students his lab and the equipment they use to study the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases in wild animals. They also study how this translates into transmission of disease to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. They use a mixture of microbiology, molecular biology, phylogenetics and population ecology to investigate infectious disease dynamics in wild animal populations. Much of their work is conducted on reservoirs or the identification of reservoir hosts. You can learn more by linking to Dr. Nieto's lab page here. Dr. Robert Kellar (upper right photo) runs the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine (TERM) Laboratory in the Center for Bioengineering Innovation at NAU. He is also the founder and president of Development Engineering Systems housed at the Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NACET) in Flagstaff. (www.des-company.com). His undergraduate, Masters, PhD, and Post Doctoral team were all available to showcase different aspects of bioengineering science. The three-hour tour was immensely engaging and educational. Thank you all! The iCREATE partnerships include NAU, TGen North, Coconino County Health Department, North Country Health Care, Northern Arizona Healthcare, and more! Note: iCREATE wants you! Read more about the project here and if you are interested in partnering to provide increased opportunities for our talented youth in any bioscience field, please contact the STEM Coordinator! iCREATE is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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Guest blog by Carrie Jenkins and Rick Treadway, 7th grade science teachers at Sinagua Middle School On April 11, 2016 a group of 48 Sinagua Middle School 7th graders headed into Oak Creek Canyon for an afternoon of water testing at Slide Rock State Park. After eating lunch at the park, we walked to the Apple Barn where we watched a short documentary about Oak Creek called “Loved to Death: The Story of Oak Creek.” The video documented the 2014 Oak Creek Ambassador Program in which concerned citizens with the support of local university students from U of A, NAU, ASU, and the Friends of Oak Creek, removed large quantities of trash brought into the park and along the creek. Oak Creek is claimed to be the 3rd purest water in the world at its source. However, the trash left behind by the hundreds of thousands of visitors each year directly impacts the water quality of Oak Creek and leads to increased levels of e. coli causing adverse effects to the local ecosystem. Under the direction of U of A microbiologists in a mobile laboratory the students tested E.coli bacteria levels, water flow rates, pH, turbidity, nitrates and dissolved oxygen. Students learned proper water sampling protocol, testing procedures and levels that indicate healthy conditions for organisms within the aquatic ecosystem. Most importantly, we learned that we can each be an ambassador for Oak Creek. Thank you to the SFAz+8 Pathways grant through Coconino Community College for funding the bus for this fieldtrip!
Guest Blog by Heather Berginc, Math Teacher and Code Club Advisor at Flagstaff Junior Academy At Flagstaff Junior Academy's Middle School, each beginning coder begins with Code.org and does an Hour of Code where they learn basics of coding: what it is, what it can do, and the language of code itself. Students quickly graduate to work with Scratch where they go into pre-made games and change aspects of them, or “remix” them. Students can then create their own games and videos. Most of our students are mastering the skills needed to be a Scratch Master. Every few weeks we share the cool new ideas that we have been working on and once a semester there is a special game/video challenge that students can participate in. Many of our students have recently began working on a new more advanced type of coding at Khan Academy where they can begin to understand the specific language of code. This is my overall goal at FJA. I want students to understand that they are using coding every day, yet rarely do people know how to read or write using this language. Flagstaff Junior Academy had six students attend CodeDay in Phoenix on February 13th and 14th at the University of Advancing Technology in Phoenix. CodeDay is an event where students of all code levels can work together to build apps and games in just 24 hours. They have mentors and workshops for students learning new aspects of coding. Our students stayed up all night working on their apps and one of our students has a mini-game on the app iTunes store called "Mouse Collision" under the mini-game series "Wiblits".
Special thank you to Scott Hathcock from the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce for assisting us! STEM City Coordinator Mindy Bell took Swedish science museum educator Kajsa Berg on a tour to some of STEM City's (aka Flagstaff's) STEM education sites. Kajsa is visiting as half of an exchange established by the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce. 6th grade science teacher Kaci Heins, from Northland Preparatory Academy, is the American half. You can read more about the goals of the exchange at their blog. We began the tour at Sinagua Middle School. Teachers Gretchen Downey, Carrie Jenkins, Jenna Samora, Kathryn Wertz, and Jillian Worssam showcased student-centered learning in engineering musical instruments with recycled materials, plate tectonics with graham crackers, coding at your own pace, creating models of human systems, and doing investigations with dry ice respectively!
Flagstaff Junior Academy is in the ol' Flagstaff Middle School building by the pond. We visited science and math teachers Elii Chapman, Todd Saunders, and Heather Berginc. Kajsa was taken by the open format of the middle school, popular at the time the school was built!
We had a great time touring STEM City! If you want to know more about great STEM sites to visit in STEM City, please contact the STEM Coordinator.
7th grade science teachers Carrie Jenkins and Susan Brown, from Sinagua Middle School and Northland Preparatory Academy respectively, have been collaborating for four years on an investigation of macroinvertebrates in Oak Creek and the Rio de Flag near Willow Bend Environmental Education Center. Carrie and Susan spend hours each fall preparing thirty leaf packs for each site and depositing them in the two environments. They retrieve the packs approximately one month later. Their students then compare the macroinvertebrates they find in the leaf packs from Oak Creek with those from the Willow Bend "pond". The teachers use online resources from the Leaf Pack Network, a network of citizens, teachers and students investigating their local stream ecosystems. The site has protocols for collecting the samples, resources for macroinvertebrate identification, and a data portal for them to upload their results. Macroinvertebrates are organisms that are large (macro) enough to be seen with the naked eye and lack a backbone (invertebrate). They inhabit all types of running waters, from fast flowing mountain streams to slow moving muddy rivers. Examples of aquatic macroinvertebrates include insects in their larval or nymph form, crayfish, clams, snails, and worms (see photos below). Most live part or most of their life cycle attached to submerged rocks, logs, and vegetation.
After completing their data sheet, students compile their data and upload it to the Leaf Pack Network site. The site has tools for students to compare the data from their two schools, as well as other schools and sites. The students can use the data to determine general stream health. If the overall pollution tolerance value of the organisms is low, the stream is most likely less burdened by contaminants than if the overall pollution tolerance level is high. This year had some disappointments for the two educators, as the leaf packs in Oak Creek had been purposefully cut away from their anchor so only one pack remained, and the leaf packs in the Willow Bend pond area were imbedded in four inches of ice - making removal difficult. Undaunted, the teachers collected leaf litter along Oak Creek so their students could still look for organisms, and thawed the iced bags in time for class. The Flagstaff STEM community is thrilled to have these dedicated educators!
Gretchen Downey, 8th grade MITe (Middle School Institute of Technology and Engineering) teacher at Sinagua Middle School, took her engineering students on a field trip to Coconino Community College on Friday, October 23rd. The field trip was funded by the SFAz+8 grant which funds 8th grade students from Mt. Elden Middle School and Sinagua Middle School to explore engineering pathways in higher education and businesses. Addison Guevara, NAU student and STEM City Intern, assisted with organizing and leading the trip. Philip Martinez, the engineering, math, and physics instructor at CCC, organized the events at the college. Students were divided into three groups that rotated through two engineering challenges and a tour of the college. Mike Luna led the tours with Kevin Mullins informing the students about dual enrollment and CAVIAT programs available to them in high school. Christine Baze, science instructor at CCC, led one of the engineering activities, while Philip led the other one. Students had a great time building and testing a crane and a balloon rocket! Thank you to Flagstaff's Ross Dress for Less for providing shoe boxes for the Build-A-Crane activity showcased below!
Killip Elementary School's 5th grade students, with their teachers Jillian Hernandez, Tracy Blahut, and Katie Butterfield, traveled to Lake Mary to make connections between the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere they have been studying. The students were divided into four groups and rotated to the four "sphere" stations with experts at each of the spheres. Three of the experts also participated last year, showing great dedication to this educational endeavor! Erin Young, the Water Resources Manager for the City of Flagstaff, was the hydrology expert, linking the hydrosphere with the geosphere through observations between Lower and Upper Lake Mary. The students also discussed how earth materials control water flow to lakes and wells. Below, Clare Stielstra, a hydrogeologist with Montgomery and Associates in Tucson, represented the biosphere, helping students make solid connections between organisms and the air, water, and land that supports them and us. Student questions had her eliciting information from the students on how Earth is different than Mars. Meteorologist Lee Born, below, represented the atmosphere, and helped students understand connections between atmospheric phenomena including natural disasters like floods and hurricanes, and the changes they can create on earth that impact the other spheres. Students took good notes as they will be writing reports on natural disasters as a culminating part of this unit. Vaden Aldridge, a recent graduate of NAU with a MS in geology, represented the geosphere. Vaden led lively discussions on how the geosphere impacted the other spheres and vice versa. Students had to think critically about when the biosphere becomes geosphere as fossils are formed, or as fossil fuels are buried, and then unearthed and burned becoming atmosphere! The students understanding of how the spheres interacted truly developed as they moved through the four stations. Many thanks to our local experts for helping our Flagstaff students make connections!
All four 4th grade classes at Killip Elementary School spent Monday, December 1st at Bearizona as an exciting component of their unit on Plant and Animal Structure and Function. Students were divided into six groups based on the animals they are researching: Black Bear, Javelina, Bobcat, Porcupine, River Otter and Red Fox. Shelly Shepherd from Arizona Game and Fish spent the day with each of the six groups, observing the animals, sharing information and answering questions. All the students were able to take the driving tour of the park and see the larger animals from the bus, as well as observe all the animals more closely in the contained habitat area. The students asked insightful questions and took copious notes. Thank you, Shelly!
Curt Craig’s 6th grade team of 90 students, three teachers and a few chaperones from Mount Elden Middle School (MEMS) had a grand field day on May 2, 2013. First, they walked 4 miles via Cedar Mesa from MEMS to the Coconino County Court House where they observed court proceedings. Then, they continued on to Francis Short Pond where they conducted water quality investigations. Chuck Benedict, of Arizona Game and Fish, has assisted Curt Craig’s classes, at both Flagstaff Middle School and now at Mount Elden Middle School, for a decade…"at the drop of a fishing hat’s notice” according to Curt. Chuck helped Curt’s students with testing dissolved oxygen and also setting up a dark bottle/light bottle test. Students check the dissolved oxygen at the time of collection and then cover one bottle with aluminum foil and leave the other bottle open to light. Each pair of bottles has some pond life in it, and students can then compare the dissolved oxygen numbers daily between the dark and light bottles.
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