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Lab4Chemistry’s brand new category 😱 Chemical Reactions!

Posted on by Lab4U Team

Food decomposition, glucose formation in plants, engine combustion, metals oxidizing⏤these are just some of the countless examples of chemical reactions we encounter every day. Technically speaking, a chemical reaction involves the transformation of one substance into another. During the conversion process, bonds may form or break and molecules may rearrange, but no atom is created or destroyed.

This concept is central to our understanding of the world. It has allowed scientists to better comprehend the behavior of matter, which has resulted in substantial leaps forward in technological and industrial development in recent centuries. The food, cosmetic, pharmacological, mining, and energy industries, among others, all owe a great deal to chemistry.

We also should acknowledge chemistry’s significant contribution to environmental causes as well as economic ones. For instance, the behavior of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), their interaction with the ozone layer, and the effects of greenhouse gases are all phenomena better understood through the lens of chemical reactions.

A third, equally important branch of study is biochemistry. By investigating how chemical reactions work within living beings, we have been able to make impressive breakthroughs in medicine by harnessing the power of plant, chemical, and other material resources. 

Of course, chemical reactions can also be fascinating and illuminating on an instructional level. Learning about chemical processes is a good entry point for analyzing Socio-scientific Issues (SSI), studying the Nature of Science and the History of Science (NOS and HOS), and promoting experimentation within investigative experiences.

The team at Lab4U has been similarly inspired by chemical reactions. As a result, we have developed three categories to help teachers and students further their studies with hands-on experiences. The first is a general category, which introduces phenomena that involve chemical changes and the stoichiometric relationships that form between reactants and products. The second and third are more specific, covering the physicochemical parameters of chemical reactions and acid-base balances (we’ll discuss them in more detail in our next Blog).

As of now, we have three engaging experiences for students in our chemical reactions category. In the first, they generate chemical reactions and observe the ways in which a reaction manifests itself (including the production of light, changes in the temperature of the system, effervescence, formation of a precipitate, color change, or release of a gas). Along the way, students will also get a feel for methodology and processes, a fundamental skill in the study of chemistry.

The second experience explores how the study of a chemical reaction can impact a person’s lifestyle. By examining the consumption of starch in their diets, students will learn about how scientific knowledge can help them make better informed health decisions. These types of objectives are part of the third level of critical scientific literacy proposed by Sjöström (2014). In his article, he explains that a body of scientific knowledge is at its highest level, the emancipatory critical focus, when it helps citizens develop critical, reflective thinking skills and make informed decisions on social and personal issues.

The third experience is a small stoichiometry research project, where students are presented with a mystery they must solve. It isbased on a semi-structured inquiry (Vergara & Cofré, 2012), where a problem is posed and it is up to the students to design an experiment to address it. Therefore, it can be a helpful tool for exploring the Nature of Sciences (NOS) in parallel, as there is no single “scientific method.”

We invite all our readers to dig into the new Lab4U experiences and experiment with Lab4Chemistry. The next Einstein or Marie Curie could be at your school!

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References

Sjöstrom, J; Stenborg, E. (2014) Science education research and education for sustainable development, 37-46, Shaker, Aachen, Germany

Vergara, C., Cofré, H. L.  (2012). La indagación científica: un concepto esquivo, pero necesario. Revista chilena de educación científica, 11(1), 30-38.

Lab4U Talks Episode 6: Inspiring Students to Solve Real-World Problems with Martha Styer

Posted on by Lab4U Team

In our last episode, Komal chatted with Sylvain about how our approach to education is vital to shaping a robust future workforce. Today, we’re excited to dive further into that educational piece with Martha Vargas Styer, a celebrated engineer and high school physics teacher based in Sacramento, California.

Martha spent 30 years as an electrical engineer working for the California Department of Transportation. An expert in her field, she was asked by the Federal Highway Administration to travel to other U.S. states and train engineers on fiber optic design for high-bandwidth demand technology, such as CCTV. She also served on a national panel for the Advanced Traffic Controller.

Her most recent stop, however, has been the physics lab at Cristo Rey High School, where Mrs. Martha is the Physics Teacher. There, she’s encouraging the next generation of budding scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to consider how what they learn in the classroom (or, during the pandemic, in their own homes) can make a real difference in the world.

In this episode, Komal and Martha discuss her transition to teaching, how to prepare students for success no matter which path they choose, and the importance of discovery in and out of the classroom.

Episode’s outline:

  • How Martha learned “what I want to be when I grow up” (7:18)
  • Why it’s imperative to inspire a diverse group of future engineers (9:00)
  • How the pandemic brought Martha to Lab4U (12:28)
  • Why making mistakes is exciting (22:20)
  • The good that can come from remote lab work (31:10)
  • Example discussed by Mrs. Styer and Komal about how students can measure and analyze intensity and frequency with Lab4Physics with a musical instrument (or digital instrument in case you don’t have one).

On Expertise and Education

Martha’s work as an engineer meant finding effective solutions for problems that might not always be apparent but that shape our everyday lives. She discusses how foundational STEM techniques like data collecting and testing were crucial to finding solutions to real challenges.

Still, she surprised herself when she became a high school physics teacher. While she had considered becoming a math teacher upon retirement, physics was not originally on her radar—until she realized it was a way to use math to wow kids, thanks to the field’s interesting labs and real-world applications.

On Diversity in Engineering

Enrollment of female engineers in educational programs is dropping. Martha talks about how when she was in school, the numbers were low, but they’re even lower now.

“Initially [I began teaching] to see if I could engage more female students into engineering. Then being at Cristo Rey, I realized there aren’t any latinos either, so I said, we need more Latinx.”

Mrs. Martha Styer, Physics Teacher at Cristo Rey High School, Sacramento, California

Martha discusses the opportunity to empower a new generation of Latinx engineers. She stresses that it’s not that kids aren’t smart enough to learn, but that they need to be prepared to succeed. By creating a classroom environment that encourages hands-on learning, kids gain the confidence required to continue along the STEM path in college and beyond.

Lab Work and the Realities of Distance Learning

In this image, one can appreciate how a creative student is taking a picture of a moving object.

When Mrs. Styer asked about their at home lab experience, a student (the one in the left image) replied:

“The most challenging part of this lab was positioning my camera in a way that I could press the start button and also be able to roll the ball at the same time. The best part of this lab was when I figured out how to do both things at the same time and was able to finally see how the data all came together.”

It is easier to captivate students in a classroom, where you can set up engaging experiments and demand their full attention. However, when the pandemic hit, Martha had to find a new way to provide her students with the same quality of education. A Google search led her to Lab4U, which has helped her recreate labs in her students’ homes. Now, entire families might get involved in making something work. Students also are required to share selfies of themselves completing the labs, which keeps them accountable but also allows them to see how they are participating in a collective experiment (and experience).

The Importance of Making Mistakes

Martha gets excited when her students make mistakes because each one is a gifted opportunity to learn something unexpected and new. Komal and Martha then discuss how testing, practice, and error are all critical parts of the scientific process.

A Silver Lining

While it has been a difficult year for both educators and students, Martha reflects on how distance learning, particularly in physics, has provided a huge growth opportunity for her students. Whereas before some students might have been able to get by on group work when completing labs, now each person has to take responsibility for each step of the process. They have learned focus and discipline, two skills that will serve them well in college and are applicable to any area of life.

If you want to check out our conversation at Youtube:

Want to make a change in education too? Write us [email protected]

Lab4U Talks. Episode 2: Building communities of practice while implementing Lab4U

Posted on by Lab4U Team

In the previous episode, Komal spoke with Nathan about the achievement gap, and his experience as a teacher in the US and in Mexico. In this 2nd. episode we talk about how we could solve the problems in science education building a better future.

At Lab4U we are moving the needle to make sure students have access to quality science education. 

To make education accessible, Lab4U partnered with the US Embassy and CEMEX to launch a scholarship program for science teachers in Mexico, empowering them with tools to change the way they teach science remotely. 

Listen to this episode and learn how Nathan built a community of practice with science teachers making a difference in the lives of thousands of students during a pandemic. 

Episode Outline:

  • min. 01:30: Introductions
  • min. 03:00: How is Lab4U working with schools around the world
  • min. 05:30: Partnering with the US Embassy and CEMEX to empower the future of the workforce
  • min. 07:15: Lab4U scholarship program 
  • min. 08:40: Training and Professional Development 
  • min. 14:10: Communities of practice
  • min. 21:00: Building a better future and scaling a high impact program
  • min. 22:05: Learnings from this program and closing remarks

Technology is a means to an end, and not the object.

We believe in the power of technology to build a better future, but technology is a means to an end, and not the object.

In Ed-tech, between technology and education, education comes first where pedagogy and instructional design play a key role in this paradigm. 

Joining forces to empower the future of the workforce with CEMEX and the US Embassy

With the support of the US Embassy and CEMEX, Lab4U launched a program that sponsored a group of committed teachers from different states of Mexico. 

During the pandemic, a large number of teachers had to re-imagine the way they teach .

If teachers were overburdened before, during a pandemic with remote teaching and distance learning, teaching science or any other subject, just got more demanding. 

To support the teacher community in Mexico, 2 sponsors in collaboration with us, decided to help a group of teachers. Empowering them with tools so that they can teach science in an engaging way with technology and with a proper instructional design using inquiry-based learning. 

Lab4U Webinars

Lab4U provided different professional development sessions through webinars and Lab4Physics for their students.

With Lab4Physics students transform their smartphones into science labs, not just virtual labs through simulations, but remote science labs using the built-in sensors of smartphones and tablets. 

In This episode

Nathan Marks shares some inspiring anecdotes about teachers from different backgrounds and states of Mexico (some even from rural Mexico) who are currently teaching inquiry-based science to students through smartphone technology. 

App Lab4Physics

We know that many classes have gone online or hybrid, where technology plays a crucial role, however we understand that technology is not the silver bullet, because one can have a traditional theoretical class through Zoom or Meet or Google Classroom with the same powerpoint without the proper instructional design for an online lesson and expect a lot.

Nevertheless, we believe that pedagogy plays an important role in the learning process, be it in person, or online. 

At Lab4U we are supporting teachers to perform inquiry-based activities with their students as learning is much more significant, long lasting and meaningful when students have the chance to learn by doing. Nathan shares how even students from rural Mexico were able to experiment hands-on and take charge of their own learning. 

Nathan explains how the latter is achieved by hands-on experiments with a guided approach using inquiry-based learning, where we focus on the pedagogy as opposed to the traditional class. With this approach students lose their fear of making mistakes and that’s what experimentation is all about! At Lab4U we know there is pedagogical importance in uncertainty and error. 

In STEM areas there is generally a fear of these subjects being difficult, boring, and not for everybody and this is based on the traditional model that prevails in many schools, where students experience science as “second hand” where we learn about science, the work that others did. But they are not actually engaging in the scientific process themselves.

Building communities of practice

However, Nathan explains that despite the challenges of distance learning and not having a physical lab space, getting students the access to a smartphone that is now a lab has been useful in shifting mindset and changing paradigms, having students taking the initiative to work beyond Lab4U’s lab report and participating in science clubs. 

The second insight Nathan shared was around building communities of practice between teachers, where they shared their experiences and learnings between peers. Here Lab4U is fostering and moderating these spaces. 

Nathan shared an anecdote of one of our experiments: Moonwalk 

Picture Description: Students sharing their experience using Lab4Physics during the pandemic. All photographs are shared with parents permits through the teachers.

In conclusion, Nathan shares the importance of pedagogy and communities of practice.

And we share the impact that Lab4U’s implementations have in communities that need it the most.

Check out Lab4U’s impact in its longitudinal study, a Randomized Controlled Trial published by the Inter-American Bank where the reports shows that students increase their interest to pursue a STEM related career

“What is this for?” publication iadb.org

Highlights of this episode: 

  1. Importance of inquiry-based learning during a pandemic 
  2. Building communities of practice with empowered teachers
  3. Inspiring students to love science and overcome their fear of making mistakes. 

Lab4U knows that STEM jobs are in demand, we need today’s youth to be tomorrow’s changemakers to solve humanity’s challenges.

We expect our work to transcend, supporting teachers and students to build a better future. 

So we want to thank all teachers, students, parents, and sponsors like the US Embassy and CEMEX for being part of this mission. 

To learn more about us. You can listen Lab4U Talks in: Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast  or you could listen to Lab4U’s YouTube Playlist

Visit us at: www.lab4u.co. You can also write to us at: [email protected] 

This episode was recorded in our homes, so working remotely.

Audio Production: Jose Ferrada, Lab4U. Distribution: Más Más

Music Credits: Cool Intro – Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor.