Environmental Science Innovative Uses

Vernier and Oregon Forest Resources Institute team up to encourage teachers to Leave No Child Inside LabQuest 2 was the star of the show at a Fieldwork Workshop hosted by the Oregon Forest Resources Institute at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, OR, on a drizzly February day. The workshop highlighted how teachers could get outside…

Subjects: Environmental Science

Jim Snyder and his students at Anderson Valley High School, in Boonville, CA, did an amazing high-altitude balloon launch during the annular eclipse this past spring. The balloon included a LabQuest, UVB Sensor, Anemometer, and two temperature sensors: a Thermocouple for external temperature readings (since they expected very low temperatures) and a Stainless Steel Temperature…

Subjects: Environmental Science, Physics

Chemistry students study Havasu Creek in the Grand Canyon. In July, students in Alex Canale’s chemistry class at Saint Peter’s Preparatory School in New Jersey took LabQuest on a ten-day adventure to the Grand Canyon to investigate the water quality of the Colorado River and its tributaries. The students were thrilled to collect real-time data…

Subjects: Environmental Science, Water Quality

Collecting data to calculate the primary productivity of an aquatic sample just got easier with our new Primary Productivity Kit. This kit contains seven bottles and stoppers designed for measuring dissolved oxygen (DO) in dark and light environments. The special shape of the bottles prevents air entrapment and makes it easy to collect data with…

Subjects: Advanced Biology, Biology, Environmental Science

Inspired to instruct students about renewable energy, professor Richard G. Born, from Northern Illinois University, developed a lab to investigate the relationship between hydroelectric power and the volume of water that moves a turbine in a given amount of time. Born connected a small water wheel and dynamo to a Vernier Circuit Board and added…

Subjects: Environmental Science, Physics

There is a Universal Truth ™ related to teaching geoscience: there will always be a current event to point to. We live on a dynamic planet. Things move – sometimes undesirably. Japan is suffering from one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history. Added to this are the compounded damages from the tsunami and the…

Subjects: Environmental Science

Using the New High Current Sensor and the 30-Volt Voltage Probe Two of our newest sensors, the High Current Sensor and the 30-Volt Voltage Probe, are well suited for exploring solar panels. During some of our early prototyping, we thought it would be nice to take some data with accompanying video. The result is a very interesting Logger Pro project:…

Subjects: Environmental Science

Steve Ahn, from Abingdon High School in Abingdon, VA, took his students on a science expedition along the Virginia Creeper Trail, where approximately 400 million years ago the land was covered by a shallow sea. As a result of the subsequent sedimentation, the soil now exhibits alternating bands of limestone and shale. “I wanted my…

Subjects: Environmental Science

Astronomy instructors sometimes struggle with how to teach complex theories in a laboratory setting. This is especially true for an introductory class composed of mostly non-science major students. Gadsden State Community College instructor, Brian Geislinger, devised a model star system in the lab to show his students how professional astronomers gain much information just from…

Subjects: Environmental Science

Steve Cogger, instructor at Doherty Middle School, Andover, MA, has his students design and test wind turbines. The goal of the project is to optimize the design of turbine blades to generate the highest output power. Using NI LabVIEW software with the Vernier SensorDAQ interface, he wrote a simple LabVIEW program to measure voltage and…

Subjects: Environmental Science