Story Board for Vernier Probes and Sensor at BHS

Do you remember that lab you did in Chemistry class when you had to count the drops of liquid that dropped into a solution until it turned red? Nothing worse than that, can you imagine your student having to do that in 2011? It is called a titration and the one solution still makes the other red and you have to add it slowly still. What has changed is that you no longer have to count the drops; there is actually a very accurate way to let a digital probe do the counting for you. If everything goes well, that equipment and more will be in science labs at BHS. This isnt just for manufacturers like AVX or up at IDEXX Labs anymore. Thanks to advances in technology, such things are relatively inexpensive and available for high schools. I am writing a grant to the National Science Teacher Association in conjunction with Vernier (the manufacturer) to get these probes in at BHS. We actually had a handful of similar probes in Mr. Cuttens AP Physics lab, which he shared with me in my physics lab and a few others. The limited number and type limited how many teachers could use them. If this grant is accepted we will substantially increase the number and type of probes we will have. You probably know that I have been working with Mr. Long and his AP Environmental Science class on a project at Rotary Park. His class has been looking at water quality coming from the old landfill there and trying to determine if it is having an impact on the recreational areas within the park or on the adjacent Saco River. This grant would provide some state of the art screening devices and one lab quality device thats only found at business listed above or the university (a smaller, simpler quantitative device yet very impressive). We are all concerned with environmental issues that occur around the park. It should be noted that the facilities area is not impacted from this study. However the swimming is could be affected. The class is sharing the data with the water district. The great part is this equipment has direct application in Chemistry and Biology classes. I can be used in many aspects of high school science and even the nursing program at the Technology Center. The grant also includes handheld devices to take most of the equipment directly to the park for real time screen rather than carrying water samples back to the school. These handheld units allow students to look at results immediately. This ensures that they can use the data just collected and avoid resampling. These instruments closely resemble equipment used by many businesses in the community. Any manufacturing business has to monitor the resources they use. Both products going in and possible byproducts coming out of the process have to be monitored. This is an ideal application for this type of equipment.

Students will have direct experience with operating equipment like that used throughout the community. As technology advances, more of this apparatus will be used, our students will have an advantage. If the grant is successful, implementation of this program will start immediately. Within a matter of two years, every student will have completed at least one class that has used the probes/sensors.