[meteorite-list] Lab Simulater Packs Teaching Power of Electron Microscope at the Expense of a Textbook

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon May 2 13:41:19 2005
Message-ID: <200505021740.j42HelD12795_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-05/nsf-em1050205.php

Media Contacts: Joshua Chamot
jchamot_at_nsf.gov
703-292-7730
National Science Foundation

Shelly Belcher
belcher_at_southfayette.org
412-221-4542
South Fayette Middle School

Education magnified 100,000X

Lab simulator packs teaching power of electron microscope at the
expense of a textbook

Kids have always had a fascination with the other-worldly images
produced by a scanning electron microscope (SEM): ants sitting on
microchip picnic tables, salt crystals in gritty detail, the scales of a
butterfly wing.

Now, a team of researchers and educators has created a CD-ROM and
Web-based software to generate some of the capabilities--and teaching
potential--of an SEM using personal computers in a classroom.

"Our goal is to develop next-generation virtual laboratory technology to
provide educators access to advanced analytical instruments rarely found
in a high school, or even a college," says Gary Casuccio of the RJ Lee
Group, principal investigator on the iSEM Project. "The iSEM represents
our first step in this direction."

Rooted in some of the same techniques researchers execute in an SEM lab,
students can use the technology to explore objects. Called iSEM, for
Interactive Scanning Electron Microscope, the system displays
pre-installed, high-resolution images that students can observe and
precisely measure as if they were operating their own $200,000
analytical instrument.

"Today's students use technology like their parent's generation used
books - it is an integral part of their lives," says Lynn Landis, an
8th-grade science teacher from South Fayette Middle School in Pittsburgh
and a consultant for the iSEM Project. "By bringing this technology to
my classroom, I feel that I will be 'updating' school and tying it to
real life activities."

>From zooming in and measuring the fangs of a spider to analyzing the
chemistry of minerals in a meteorite, elementary school-aged children
can run experiments they might not otherwise see outside of a graduate
school education.

"iSEM is a version of the SEM tool that is affordable even to schools
with relatively meager resources," says Sally Nerlove, the NSF officer
who oversaw the iSEM award. "This has the potential to motivate and
prepare students for professions that benefit from advanced microscopy,
such as electronics, medicine, forensics and the emerging area of
nanotechnology."

###

SBIR Phase II Award #0321679: Development of a Scanning Electron
Microscope (SEM) Simulator for Use in Education
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0321679

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency
that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of
science and engineering, with an annual budget of nearly $5.47 billion.
NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000
universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 40,000
competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding
awards. The NSF also awards over $200 million in professional and
service contracts yearly.

 
Received on Mon 02 May 2005 01:40:47 PM PDT