STEM Ed Announcement: Science/Engineerng Saturday Seminars

[Morton Sternheim <mort@k12s.phast.umass.edu>]

This is  a UMass Amherst  program.
Contact information is below.
============================

Science & Engineering Saturday Seminars         Spring, 2010 
-         Designed for science teachers; new teachers are especially welcome         
-         Five Saturdays each term; 8:30-1 at UMass Amherst, Lederle Grad
-         Towers 1033 (except as noted)
-         Educational materials, refreshments, parking, PDP's included
- 	  Advance registration is required; capacity is limited
- 	  Cost $30 per session
-         4 PDP's per half day session

March 6.  Technology-Enhanced Science Activities Frieda Reichsman and 
Eric Martz, Microbiology. Explore inquiry-based, interactive activities from the Concord 
Consortium that use dynamic models and simulations to guide students 
from the phenomena of their everyday lives to the molecular 
underpinnings of life. The Science of Atoms and Molecules Project (SAM) 
includes scaffolded activities that address physics, chemistry, and 
biology topics such as of diffusion, protein structure and function, 
lipids and carbohydrates, the genetic code, chemical bonds, and more. 
Mutate a gene and see how an RNA in the cell instructs a ribosome to 
produce proteins with an altered amino acid sequence. Working with a 
dynamic model, you can explore for yourself how hydrophobic and
hydrophilic amino acids affect protein folding. As they progress through
activities, students answer embedded assessments; you view or print 
their answers as reports using a teachersâ?? web portal. All SAM 
activities are  free and use the free, open-source Molecular Workbench 
software to examine three-dimensional molecular models and help students 
experience molecular movements, collisions, and attractions.

March 27. Antibiotics in the Environment.  Erik Rosenfeldt, Civil and
Environmental Engineering. Discharges of pharmaceuticals and personal care
products into aquatic ecosystems are an emerging environmental issue.
Antibiotics are of particular concern since they may lead to the evolution
of antibiotic resistant microorganisms.  A simple assay that detects
activity associated with antibiotics is known as the AntiBiotic Challenge
[ABC], and is based upon a commercially available test for finding
antibiotics in meat, urine, and dairy products. The assay has been adapted
so that students will have no contact with potentially pathogenic
microorganisms and only simple equipment is required.

April 3. Science of the Eye.  Ishara Mills-Henry, Biology, MIT. In the
retina, photoreceptor cells translate light into electrical and chemical
signals that are processed through several downstream neurons.  We will
discuss photoreceptor function as it relates to color vision, the proteins
involved in phototransduction (signaling pathways and ion channels leading
to changes in membrane potential), the evolution of color vision, and the
genetics of color blindness.  In the second part of the workshop, we will
focus on how the processing of visual stimuli in the brain plays a critical
role in vision. Many optical or visual illusions are a result of how the
brain perceives what we see and studying them has provided further
understanding of the mechanisms of visual perception.  Hands-on activities
will include aligning opsin gene and protein sequences and how optical
illusions are interpreted.

April 10.  Weather cancellation makeup date if needed.

May 1. Recall for those registered for graduate credit. Hasbrouck Lab.

Questions: Mort Sternheim, mort@umassk12.net, 413-545-1908,
www.umassk12.net/sess 

Online seminar registration and payment:
      www.umassk12.net/sess/register.html