NOAA PhytoplanktonTesting

Ok...I did do something cool yesterday!  My students have been participating in water testing for a program call the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN) that is a part of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).  Think of phytoplankton as little water animals that you can't see with your eyes! During the school year, there have been 3 primary student investigators (Jan, Michael, and Caroline)...they have detected 2 confirmed "blooms" in our river.  This is how it works...we get a sample of the river water, we analyze it under the microscope by determining how many and what phytoplankton is in our water sample.  We then report our data into the official NOAA PMN website.  We are considered an OFFICIAL TEST SITE...cool beans!   If there are a bunch of the little animals in the water (over 9,000) we have a BLOOM.  Blooms DON'T mean toxic or bad.  They can...but they don't have to be bad.  Ours have not been "bad."

Yesterday, Mark (a former student from Northeastern University, chem Major...awesome science nerd!), Jan, and Jan's brother Jeff, came to school to do the analysis (geniuses!).  We also met with Matt the NOAA guy we report to and his assistant Andrew.  Matt and Andrew came from South Caroline!  Joining the fun was Ms. Kristy (Butterfly Princess!)

We spent some time by the river talking about the process with Matt and Andrew.  Then after they left we went back and got a sample and proceeded to analyze the water.  We had a BLOOM of oocystis...which is not toxic but we also had some other cool guys in the water...we had Pleurosigma, Odontella, Ditylum, Entomoneis and Coscinodiscus...  The Coscinodiscus is super cool looking...it looks like a beautiful pizza made up of little circles with a hole in the middle.  Unfortunately, I was not nice to a Coscinodiscus...when I discovered one under the microscope I got so excited that I wanted to focus and get closer to it...and got so close and so focused... that I squished its guts out...now it looked like a pizza with its sauce spilled out on the outside.  Sadness!  You should do a "Google image search" to see these interesting animals!  Any way, Mark, Jeff and Jan were much nicer to their little animals...right before we threw them all out!  Mark, Jan and Jeff worked hard, for about an hour on one slide grid...did I mention that the grid on the slide is about 1/2 inch square in total area and contains 64 squares within it? And that they have to count each type of animal in each of the 64 squares?  Pretty intense work !!!

Anyway, we got our numbers entered it into the NOAA database and then had pizza in honor of the Coscinodiscus!  Now I'm off to the pool...next testing in 2 weeks.

Now up to 19 Countries!

We have two new players on the field...El Salvador and Ukraine.  I've had 624 hits...and Russia is going strong with 11!  I even have a "follower" that is Russian or Polish...how cool is that?  I'm going to get a globe to locate all these places!  I notice that the colder countries like me more than the warmer countries????  Cold countries...warm hearts....oh, wait...that's about hands.

Anyway... I was going to turn this off for the summer but many students and teachers said I should continue...I guess I will....but my summer stories aren't so interesting...about house cleaning, yard work, cleaning closets, 5 foot gators walking down the middle of my street, the two black snakes that live under my front porch, sky diving, and  race car driving.  (The last two added for interest since the first three were so realistic and boring!)

To my students:  get OUT of the house...go to the beach, pool, state parks, nature trails, go fishing, go boating, go to museums, go to libraries, go to concerts, go do etchings of headstones at cemeteries, volunteer your time at a nursing home, get out there and enjoy your summer!!!

I will write from time to time if there is something worth writing about.  My lawn chair is calling my name...

Updating again...17 countries and counting...

I got 3 hits from Russia!!! 

Updating...

Just went through graduation...a sad and happy time...they will be missed!  Great young people...very bright futures ahead...God bless them all!

On another note...Poland checks in....with 5 hits!  Nice job Caroline!!!  Madame Curie would be proud!!!  By the way...how's the  PATENT coming along?  You'll be the next topic of my blog!!!  Unless you don't want me to write about you...in which case...I'll continue to write about you!

15 COUNTRIES & Counting!!!! And a REFLECTION ON YOUR AWESOME COMMENTS...

Checking in are...United Kingdom, Czech Republic, and Philippines!  Once again nice job people!!! I've been waiting for the Philippines...

On another note, I want to share with you how inspired I was by the (Turnitin) comments from my students after they read my blog...after all, if I was writing it...they were going to read it!!

Many of my students shared that they were surprised by the efforts of people "their age".  They hadn't realized how someone so young could tackle such serious projects.  Some shared that they were embarrassed that while they were testing the best laundry detergent someone else was looking into minimizing beach erosion, helping their school by designing a cheap scan tron machine, preserving the environment, addressing energy issues and trying to help Alzheimer's patients... Such real important projects! Many of my students said that they were inspired by these ideas and plan to rethink how they approach Science Fair next year. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Some felt they weren't smart enough...which I responded...SILLINESS!!!  It's about the HEART and the desire to make a difference! Other students said "how do THEY get these ideas?"...I responded...LOOK AROUND YOUR WORLD - WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP IT? 

I think Sarah said it best when she wrote..."After reading your blog, I'm so excited about MY generation!"  ME TOO SARAH...ME TOO!

2nd Roll Call!

It has been almost 24 hours since our experiment began.  Since then we're up to 12 countries!!!  It's getting interesting...now Australia, Brazil, and France have joined in the McSchmitty Experiment!  But then some of the others are dropping off...sadness...they don't want to be counted in on this very scientific global scale experiment?  What the heck???   Now I have to get answers about why they dropped off?  I might even have to talk to some "tech" people...scary!  (Or I'll just ask my students since they know the answers to almost everything!!!  Actually when it comes to technology THEY are usually right on!  I'm sure they don't have belly buttons they have USB ports...there's another cutting edge idea! )

A shout out to those who brought in those new countries...we really are very connected!

1st Roll Call (1st Experimental Data!)

Joining the US, Germany, Canada, Argentina and India are...United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Israel, and Nigeria!   Way to go guys!!!!