October 25, 2007

NSLS Web Conference Connects Cross-Country Schools for Bivalve Study

BNL scientist Keith Jones talks to students via web conference about their data collected on the NSLS experimental floor.

About 200 students and teachers from 10 local and cross-country schools participated in an environmental experiment at the National Synchrotron Light Source on October 25, 2007. And they did it without ever leaving their classrooms.

After collecting sediment, mussels, and oysters from their local waterways – ranging from Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal to the wetlands of Louisiana – the students sent their samples to NSLS beamlines X27A and X26 to determine the composition and concentration of key elements such as calcium, zinc, and lead. Then, a web conference linked scientists at the beamline with the individual classrooms as students watched their data form in real time and asked questions about the results.

"There's a big effort in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut on growing mussels downstream from water treatment plants to try to restore the damaged habitat and improve water quality," said Keith Jones, a scientist in Brookhaven's Environmental Sciences Department and one of the web conference's coordinators. "But, importantly, you want to know how they might be affected by the water contaminants. Will they live, will they reproduce properly, and how will their shells and soft tissue affect the environment after they die?"

The students' project is a step toward answering those questions. The experiment, which used x-ray fluorescence mapping to analyze the elemental composition of the samples, began as a workshop to train teachers in environmental molecular chemistry techniques at the beamline. Schools that participated during the workshop and later include: New York Harbor School and Green School, in Brooklyn; Locust Valley High School, Syosset High School, Sayville High School, Southampton High School, East Hampton High School, and Sachem High School, in Long Island; Washington Math Science Technology Charter School, Washington, D.C.; and Southern University, New Orleans.

Through the use of a videoconferencing system and multiple cameras, the students could see the scientists at the beamline, the samples in the experimental hutch, and the resulting data plots. The students and scientists will continue to collaborate through the analysis and interpretation of the data, in bivalve gardening in the laboratory and nature, and through tracking the success of oyster and other bivalve restoration projects on Long Island and elsewhere.

Oysters grown in the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, where they are severely stressed by pollution. Picture courtesy of Katie Mosher-Smith, from Gowanus Oyster Garden Stewards, a volunteer organization that helped collect samples for the experiment.

"This is a great way for students to experience big science from their lecture room," said Brookhaven's Office of Educational Programs (OEP) administrator Scott Bronson. "Because the students came from a variety of schools, they asked questions of the scientists and also of each other."

"We'd like to keep this running in the future, because in the long-term, it's a way to track the changes in the environment in which bivalves live," Jones said.

This interest in problems related to oysters and other bivalves comes from work related to contaminated sediments in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and elsewhere, a collaborative effort that involves BNL, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and others.

The web conference tool stems from Stony Brook University's Center for Environmental Molecular Science (CEMS) education and outreach research projects for area schools, as well as from a collaboration between CEMS and OEP called "Building Leadership to Expand Participation in Environmental Molecular Science," which is funded through a National Science Foundation (NSF) supplement to CEMS. CEMS is a collaboration between the Stony Brook and the BNL Environmental Sciences Departments and is co-funded by NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy.

An area map of relative elemental concentrations (clockwise from upper left, lead, zinc, bromine, and copper) for a 65-micrometer thick section through the soft tissue of an oyster taken from the Gowanus Canal. Refined analysis of these data with future studies will help in understanding the effect of lead intake on oyster development.

"We really enjoyed it," said Southern University professor Murty Kambhampati of the web conference. His ecology and plant diversity class were participants. "It was a great way to be linked to a national lab and, at the same time, get to interact with high school students."

Kambhampati, who also is a member of the NSLS Historically Black Colleges and Universities consortium, already is planning for future educational opportunities using the videoconferencing technology.

Others involved in the web conference included OEP's Ken White and Jen Clodius, as well as numerous teachers and support staff from the participating schools.

ARTICLE BY: Kendra Snyder