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Summer Fellowship Success Stories Science Stories
Developing a Tutorial for Microbiologists
With a growing number of microbiologists turning to Greengenes to classify their bacterial and archaeal sequences, many new users had questions. They needed help with the software options available on the web to determine gene sequences from raw chromatograms, or to align their sequences to each other or to an annotated standard alignment. Others were uncertain as to which tool to use for taxonomic classification.
Enter Jonathan Davies, a science teacher at James Logan High School, who spent two summers at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. This IISME Fellow created a tutorial designed to lead a variety of users through the full series of steps necessary to input their bacterial DNA sequences and receive a detailed classification of those sequences back from the Greengenes database. The tutorial has expanded usage of the Greengenes technology to a greater audience--from high school students to researchers. Creating a Crime Scene at School
Sujatha Raghu designed a project to engage her students at Rolling Hills Middle School in the chemistry involved in crime scene investigations. After learning about chromatography, finger printing, and acid base indicators, students were presented with a crime scenario, with six teachers as the “suspects” in a robbery. Students “nailed” the criminal, finding clues and performing experiments on them. Sujatha was able to incorporate some of the techniques she mastered during her Fellowship in Christopher Chidsey’s research lab at Stanford University. Mathematics Stories
Statistical Concepts in Human Resources
Robert Knight, a math teacher at Evergreen Valley Community College and IISME Fellow at Alien Technology produced a streaming video on-line presentation that is used as part of the statistics course he teaches. The presentation demonstrates how statistical analysis software technology relates to human resources, a field which many people might never think of as being so dependent on statistics. Excel spreadsheets and TI graphing calculators are also used. Profit Maximization Using Linear Programming
Math teacher Brian Campbell of Scotts Valley High School used his Fellowship at Lockheed Martin to develop a lesson on Profit Maximization Using Linear Programming. In this lesson, students use linear programming to optimize profit in a business they create. They explore the concepts of profit, pricing, and cost and how they influence business economics. They apply systems of linear inequalities to real-world constraints, such as labor and time and present their findings using visual aids to define their business, showing corner points and feasible regions with regard to linear optimization. Technology Stories
Students Learn Computer Maintenance
Stephanie Darrough-Butler, an IISME Fellow at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, developed an Education Transfer Plan focused on computer maintenance. Working as a member of the Computer Repair Services management team in support of Lockheed’s computer and printer infrastructures, she gained the skills necessary to keep the Computer Lab up and running (i.e. printers working properly, all desktops functional and online) at Elmhurst Middle School in Oakland. She also developed a new unit for her students called “How Computers Work” dealing with hardware and other maintenance issues to supplement the current curriculum that focused primarily on software applications. Using Trigonometry to Move Robotic Arms
Ohlone Community College instructor David Topham studied simple robotics technologies (motors, sensors, microcontrollers), JAVA programming and courseware at Santa Clara University as part of his IISME Fellowship. He prototyped equipment and lesson plans to bring several lessons on-line for use with middle or high school students. One lesson, The Robotic Arm Manipulator, is published on IISME’s website at http://iisme.5ecommunity.org. It captures student interest by showing how to move a robotic arm from one point to another in a straight line, using trigonometry concepts.
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