The original focus for ScienceSuitcase.org was on supporting science teachers in their own classrooms. Like everyone else, we’re shifting to make due with what we have a home, and trying to still support science teachers. We not only have a lot of “sciency” things at home already, but can help cook up novel approaches and hands on activities. We may also be able to purchase things that would be useful to many teachers. We especially want to support teachers in schools that serve low income students, with priority for NYC public schools as per our mission.
We would like to offer science teachers the virtual use of our resources- which I can use in a way that would serve a particular service to you. Please let me know what you might be interested in collaborating about/with, so I can get a better sense of what you (teachers) need and want the most.
Here is a smattering of the things you can use in your virtual classrooms. Please leave comments or email me at Dr. Sascha (at) sciencesuitcase.org
Access to real scientists who could possibly come “visit” your online classes. I am NOT offering visits by scientists who would talk about SARS-CoV-2 , rather ones who would talk about their own research. I can also advise on how to reach out directly to professionals.
Live organisms
planaria
wax worms
daphnia
cyclops
yeast
wild caught flies (you can do this too!)
elodia and other good plants for viewing live plant cells
living algea and protists of all kinds (wild!)
tons of house plants
fruit and vegis for food and sprouted for growth! ( I bet you already have this too!) ex. Red cabbage for making a ph indicator.
Equipment
4-400X microscopes with imaging via iphone attachment
gel electrophoresis rig
mini PCR machine
pipetmen various sizes 1-1000ul and tips
Spiker boxes for neuroscience (but don’t know them well- )
A variety of thermometers, including 10 of the same
Other
bacterial petri dishes, +/- antibiotics
ph paper, along with a range of basic- acid
magnifying glasses
iphone microscopes
Check out the other pages for other links to online labs, resources, and ideas
I’ll add to this as I think of things…. let’s collaborate.
FREE Interactive lab hours at 1-1:30 pm EST Monday and Thursdays with 4-6th grade and 7-10th grades sessions at 1 and 1:30 pm. STARTING APRIL 2nd. Sign up here to get the invitation link. Please sign up for each class so I can know how many to expect, and so that I don’t keep sending emails if you are not interested… you can also make a note of if you will come to all of them and then I will automatically keep signing you up.
Prep for experiment #2 What do you notice (observe)? What do you wonder? Questions are the heart of science so ask tons!!
Larger Question #1 : What do plastic eating “bugs” like to eat best?
Watch this 3 minute intro video to get started.
Please send me your questions via the comments below or directly if you are signed up for the class.
If you have other ideas of things to do, we can!
Live Lab#1 notes– you can see here to get an idea of what we discussed at the first live lab
This is the experiment that we came up with today at our Live Lab. Check back for our data next week.
2 days later
4 days later
Please email info@sciencesuitcase.org with subject“sign-up” if you’d like to subscribe to emails announcing lab hours and other events where we’ll be do interactive (live) mini labs with all sorts of amazing science! These will have a combination of experiments that you can do at your home with what you already have, as well as ones where you get to tell us what to do with the materials we have!
Plastic eating bugs- what do they like best? START NOW! Lab hours April 2nd 1-2pm and every Monday and Thursday in April at 1-2 pm. See top of page for link to sign up and get invite.
We can also now visit your class remotely and teach a COVID-19 topic ( customized)
Resources to learn more about the Biology (advanced high school though graduate level)
Terminology: SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is the official name of the virus. The disease it causes is coronavirus disease or COVID-19.
OUTSTANDING and clear talk about the epidemiology, molecular biology of infection, health and immunological effects (pathology), and diagnostics- ie the science of COVID-19 for advanced High School and above? Do you agree? Please give feedback in comments
SARS-CoV-2 virus has RNA and an envelope (lipid membrane), so based on that information which of the above viruses might be most similar to SARS-CoV-2? It turns out there are lots of different kinds of enveloped RNA viruses, so to delve in a little deeper, look at the diagram below which classifies viruses based on a more detailed analysis of their properties. Flu is a Orthomyxoviridae type, whereas SARS-CoV-2 is in the virus family Coronaviridae You probably need at least a high school AP Biology background, or College Biology to understand the difference between (+) and (-) RNA but it does make a difference about how the virus replicates in cells.This diagram shows which parts of the viral genome code for which proteins. The first 2 large genes code for the replicase which both makes copies of the virus genome and makes mRNAs that are used to make viral proteins. The genome is made of RNA and does not go through a DNA intermediate as some other RNA virus genomes do.
Good animation about the flu virus which is different in some ways from SARS-CoV-2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpj0emEGShQ in that it never goes into the nucleus of the cells it infects. If you search the web for virus animations you’ll find many different ones. Watch at least 3 different ones and please tell us what you liked about your favorite one in the comment section and give the link so others can see it.
Very advanced chapter in a book about the molecular biology of Coronaviruses: Fehr A.R., Perlman S. (2015) Coronaviruses: An Overview of Their Replication and Pathogenesis. In: Maier H., Bickerton E., Britton P. (eds) Coronaviruses. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1282. Humana Press, New York, NY
This sites track the genetic changes of SARS-CoV-2 (virus) which causes Covid-19 since it’s first identification. As of March 21, 2020 there are 855 isolates of SARS-CoV-2 sequences in the database. One week later on there are 1542 sequences in the database. I think this site maybe comprehensible for people with a college level Biology understanding. Please leave a comment if you think it is easier or harder to understand than that. Also say if you played with ways to visualize the data.
Scientist are making fast progress learning about the virus, in large part to the collaborative nature of basic research on many things that we don;t know ahead of time will be so useful. Link to a genetics lecture given by a genetics professor, Dr. Troeml, at UCSD. College level biology background useful for following the lecture given early March.
Epidemiology: the branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.
Disease spread interactive model: Check it out!! There are sliders so you can change the Population Size, Infection Period, Distance of Transmission, Mortality, and Number of Initial Infections. There is also a graph of the number of infected individuals over time, so you can see the progress of the epidemic as the number of infections steadily increases and then decreases to zero, leaving the population as either uninfected, recovered, or dead.
I will add to this, as should you in the comments page. Please only add sites/links that you have some experience with and really know are great and high quality.
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/
Smart videos for curious minds of all ages. Has fascinating short science videos
MoMath is pleased to announce a new program to keep your minds fresh! Sign up now for Mind-Benders for the Quarantined! at mindbenders.momath.org and each Sunday, MoMath will send you a challenging mathematical puzzle from the collection of our own puzzle master, Dr. Peter Winkler. On Tuesday, you’ll receive a subtle hint; on Thursday, a serious push; on Saturday, the solution. And the next day, of course, a new puzzle.
These puzzles are for your edification, enjoyment, and personal satisfaction. If you wish, however, you may send your answers and/or complaints to mindbenders@momath.org at any time. Dr. Winkler won’t be able to reply, but he will be happy to benefit from your comments, and will announce a winner (for the most right answers with the least help) when the epidemic is over.Regards, National Museum of Mathematics
Keep an eye on the amazing BioBus.orgon utube and Intagram for online offerings. http://www.biobus.org/resources/
minipcr FREE online Educational Resources https://www.minipcr.com/educational-resources/. Our Educational Resources Center is meant to help educators at every level find strategies to connect students with biology, finding direct links between classroom practices and real-world applications of biotechnology. Resources to help educators enable amazing science
CONTEST by minipcr and their genesinspace project. Students in grades 7 through 12: design DNA experiments that address a real life challenge in space exploration. Accepting submissions through May 9th, 2020 (extended deadline).
The CSHL DNA Learning Center has a new set of online educational programming as a service to help engage teachers and students during coronavirus school closures. All of this content is free and is available at More content will be added in the next few weeks! As the “Live” portion of the name suggests, we will be live-streaming much of the content we post to the site, but it will also remain posted for later viewing. Videos will be available on the DNALC Live page, as well as on our YouTube channel .
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects is a very cool site where there are tons of science and non science projects that need your eyeballs and brains to carry out- from reading and converting handwriting, to counting fish swimming, you and your kids can collect data and participate in real projects. Tons of different ones to choose from.
https://www.howtosmile.org/ Search over 3,500 of the very best science and math activities on the web. Find handpicked activities from your favorite science museums, public television stations, universities, and other educational organizations. All activities are available to anyone, free of charge. Start searching now and filter by age, material costs, and learning time to find exactly what you need for your class, educational program, or family.
MATH: Vernier Video Analysis is a physics-focused tool where students can use their mobile devices to insert their own videos with recorded motion, mark points to track the object in motion, and set the scale of the video. This app brings physics and video analysis to all your students regardless of their location. A free trial is available that is good through June.
Pivot Interactives is a video-based science learning environment. With over 200 interactive activities, the high-quality videos from Pivot Interactives give your students the opportunity to observe and study hard-to-replicate experiments and phenomena no matter where they are. 30 day free trial for TEACHERS and discounted pricing.
Analyze Experiment Data at Home with Graphical Analysis 4To help ensure students continue to sharpen their critical-thinking skills and learn key scientific concepts during this precarious time, Vernier has put together over 80 free experiments with sample data files covering many subjects that you can distribute to your students at home. Though students won’t be performing the experiments themselves, they can perform their own analysis of the sample data using our free Graphical Analysis™ 4 app and answer questions based on their results.
In this six (6) week innovation challenge students ages 13-17 from around the world will have the opportunity to form virtual teams to develop technology-based solutions to slow the spread of COVID-19. Solutions due May 6th!!! From the New York Academy of Sciences
Genespace has classes (now online, and some free) and if you sign up for their mailing list they have lists of other events happening. These are mainly for adults.
Ideas for science experimentation at home with materials you already have.
Vitamin D research at home for your own health: You need it for for healthy bones (calcium absorption), muscle, and immune function. Where do you get it and how much are you getting now that you are sheltering at home? What factors influence your vitamin D level? This vitamin is unique in that our bodies make it when our skin is exposed to the sun’s UV rays. Too much sun can lower levels of folate and cause skin cancer, so clearly too much sun is also not healthy.
Figure out how much you get by estimating your sun exposure each day and dietary intake. D-Minder is a phone app (with free upgrade during pandemic) that can help you keep track (video). Check food labels and use this chart, and if you had blood work at your last medical check up, you may be able to find out what your Vitamin D levels were the day of the blood draw. Also, do some internet research to learn more. Write us if you want to add your data to our project about NYC student vitamin D levels during the pandemic!
SCIENCE OF SEEDS QUICK START: Save all fruit and vegetable seeds so you can use them to do experiments on how to make them sprout. (And in the long term you can grow food!)
Why do plants make fruit? What are seeds for? How are seedless limes grown?
Hands on experiments:
Can you figure out how to get the seeds to sprout? Keep track of what you do (try to get numbers, i.e. data) so write down how many seeds you have, and what you do to different groups. Maybe take photos too? Put seeds under a wet paper towel in a semi closed container. As long as it stays moist you don’t need to add more water all this time because the lid was on and only slightly ajar (open), so there was very little evaporation of water (drying out as the liquid water turns to gas). For example you might add more/less water or keep them in the light/dark. What other parameters (conditions) can you change to help figure out what is the best way to sprout seed x? Do you think all seeds will sprout in the same conditions, and why/why not? What other seeds to you have at home? beans? almonds? cardemom pods? try those too! Check on your seeds at least every other day and within a week some should have sprouted. Once a seed has germinated (sprouted), it is time to plant it! These baby plants have already started making the green stuff (chlorophyll) which is what absorbs the sun’s energy for making food (photosynthesis) and will have a long white root growing, so you know it’s ready for soil and light!
If they don’t sprout, there are many interesting reasons why not. What possibilities can you think of?
You can use a recycled yogurt container or cut off the bottom of a paper or plastic milk carton… as for soil, we have some but maybe it’s time to start COMPOSTING in our window sill to make more!
Also, what about regrowing plants from just a part of it? This is asexual propagation.
Plant these in soil or under wet paper towels. They will sprout.
CAUTION: DO NOT EAT ANY GREEN PART OF potatoes- of the potato (tuber) nor the stems or leaves. They have a toxin in them. Why does the growing plant make toxins? UPDATE: After buying about 8 different types of potatoes from 4 different supermarkets, NONE of my potatoes started growing stems out of the eyes…. so I did some research online and discovered that potatoes are often irradiated or treated with a chemical that both kill bacteria and mold, but also makes the potato cells unable to grow. These treatments increase the “shelf” life of vegetables by inhibiting spoilage (rotting) by microbes. When I was a kid they didn’t do this and potatoes stored in a dark cupboard would often sprout!
I’m going to try to get a lettuce heart to grow roots and keep growing! I am going to keep the bottom part dark for a while, because some plants only will root (make new roots) in the dark. Add enough water so the plant part (brownish lettuce base here) is partially submerged in the water, and put int he sun so it can start photosynthesis!
Track your Body Temperature and discover your Circadian Rhythm (24 hour cycle). All you need is a thermometer and keep logging your temperature into a spreadsheet. Bookmark the spreadsheet and once you have over 20 data points we’ll email you your graph and data. Start collecting your data NOW!!!
We want to hear back from you. Please leave comments and questions (questions and sharing are core to science, so let’s do it together!) Having trouble getting images in comments to load automatically- but we are working on it.
Please email info@sciencesuitcase.org with subject“sign-up” if you’d like to subscribe to emails announcing lab hours where we’ll be do interactive (live) mini labs with all sorts of amazing science! These will have a combination of experiments that you can do at your home with what you already have, as well as ones where you get to tell us what to do with the materials we have!
