A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Pease Middle School, San Antonio, Texas

• Scientist mentoring
• Student collaborative research projects
• International correspondence

Armed with an air pump, air testing tubes, and other tools, students conducted a series of tests. They found no appreciable sulfur dioxide, ozone, or carbon monoxide levels in their classroom; however, carbon dioxide levels consistently exceeded the recommended limit of 1000 parts per million set by ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers).

Mindful of complaints about poor air quality throughout the school, the students conducted a broad survey of air quality and sought the opinions of the faculty. Equipped with their air testing tools provided by the Global Laboratory project -- and following strict scientific protocols -- students measured CO2 levels in other classrooms and found them also unacceptably high.

The class's CO2 measurements and survey results were presented to the school board, which dispatched four environmental control officers to investigate. Linda Maston, a teacher and three-year veteran of Global Lab, used the computer network to report what ensued. She said:

They [the officers] first went into the counseling office where the counselors and teachers told them about what was going on. They were not impressed, so they were brought to our classroom. As soon as we pulled out the data and the graphs showing the patterns that we had found, they suddenly started to take notes.

The moment of glory came this afternoon when they showed up with the same kind of tubes we had, and their fancy pump got exactly the same reading as we had with our syringe version!

The CO2 study was [the students'] pride and joy. They were just so pleased and proud of themselves that they had managed to do what nobody else had been able to accomplish in 17 years. To have their data taken seriously by adults in general, and the district in particular, was just awesome for them. They are so used to failure that it's hard to convince them sometimes that they're doing good work.

After the Pease class made its school-wide CO2 readings, the students posted a request on the Global Lab network for CO2 readings in other classrooms.

From their colleagues in Aiken, South Carolina, the students received the following message:

Hello San Antonio: We read your report about carbon dioxide and have a similar case here in Aiken, SC. All of our classrooms have windows but we did a project which tried to test the carbon dioxide levels in the trailers where a lot of our classes are. Dr. Borst thought that they would have higher levels. Not!! The regular classrooms had higher levels... We explained this by the hallways.

Regular classrooms open into hallways, while the trailers open into the outdoors... So when the class changes you get fresh air in the trailers. In the regular classroom you get stale air from the hall. (Kennedy Middle School, Aiken, SC)

When Global Lab posted on several telecommunications networks a call for on-line scientists to support air quality school research, Ken Muzal -- who works with real air quality measurements, industrial hygiene chemistry, and analytical chemistry -- offered to join.

In his e-mail message, Ken outlined the vital air quality issues on which students could focus their research. Students had already concluded that high CO2 levels were the cause of the poor air at Pease. But after exchanging e-mail messages with Ken -- and while looking at "the nature of our school, how it was built, and the pattern of CO2, levels that we had observed" -- students discovered the cause of the problem: inadequate ventilation.

Global Lab

The experience of this Global Lab class is not unique. Rather, it illustrates the kinds of activities occurring worldwide in classrooms participating in the Global Laboratory, a worldwide environmental project that fosters collaborative student research. By relying on an integrated use of several computer software programs and laboratory equipment, the project introduces classrooms to real-world investigations, technologies, communications, and collaboration all of which supports student-based research.

Global Lab is administered by TERC, a 30-year-old non-profit research organization devoted to improving math and science instruction in elementary and secondary schools. With a grant from the National Science Foundation, TERC provides a way for schools to participate in a worldwide community of student scientists investigating environmental issues. Global Lab schools also receive a collection (on CD-ROM) of curriculum, software tools, technical information; conferencing facilities to enhance collaboration with other schools around the world; and "starter kits" of materials to begin project-based explorations.

The Future

More than curriculum and technologies, the Global Laboratory is a community of students, teachers, and scientists engaged in real world, hands-on, interdisciplinary research. Unlike traditional curriculum, the project is dynamic and ongoing. In the 1993-94 school year, Global Lab students are building on the databases organized during the 1992-93 school year. These students will then establish new environmental monitoring sites at which future generations will learn and practice the diverse skills of true science.

This case study is adapted from an article written by Dr. Boris Berenfeld for the TERC publication, Hands On! (Fall 1993, Volume 16, No. 2). Dr. Boris Berenfeld is co-director of the Global Laboratory project.

Peggy Kapisovsky, Communications Director
TERC
(617) 547-0430
Peggy_Kapisovsky@terc.edu

Boris Berenfeld, Co-Director
Global Lab
TERC
(617) 547-0430
Boris_Berenfeld@terc.edu

Stephen Bannasch, Co-Director
Global Lab
TERC
(617) 547-0430
Stephen_Bannasch@terc.edu

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Christopher Columbus Middle School Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania