STEM Digital, Day 2

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Our Bromo-thymol blue setup, graded by amount of Carbon Dioxide.

Today is the second day of this week long course, and again it started with a variety of breakfast items.  We started right at 9 am, analyzing color, which was a great review of the biology of the eye and how it relates to digital cameras.

Jennifer Wellborn presented her Skin Color lab, a unit that she collaborated with her grade level team to teach the kids some of the social constructs, which I thought was impressive.  The students would use the ADI software to analyze their skin color, and come to the realization that no two people are the same.

Debbie Carlisle and Steve Schneider then presented about air quality, specifically in regards to Carbon Dioxide.  We went to the lab and use Bromo-thymol blue (which I’ve used in class) as an indicator, and made a series of tests to create partial color changes.  Bromo-thymol blue turns to a yellow color when exposed to an acidic environment.  Aqueous Bromo-thymol Blue will bind with Carbon Dioxide to create carbonic acid.  The lab was a really interesting spin on activities that I already do in my classroom, and could link with the Carbon Cycle.  We were easily able to analyze the color intensity of the solutions that we created.

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Our lab space for the Carbon Dioxide experiments.

Finally, Steve Schneider talked at length about Digital Camera Basics, explaining how different aspects of how digital cameras work, from sensors (CCD vs CMOS), Focal Length, ISO settings, and White balance, amongst other digital camera uses.

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Preparing the Bromo-thymol blue solution