Experts agree that one of the major problems with American science education is that it is a “mile wide and an inch deep”. That is, we tend to cover too many different subjects too superficially. We plow through massive, expensive textbooks, covering chapter after chapter, never spending enough time on any topic for students to really understand what they are learning. We test and quiz regularly while students can still remember what they have been told or read. This doesn’t work for most students. Few remember a thing, let alone are able to apply what they have learned.

As many readers know very well, Cognitive Learning Systems’ preK-8 science education system, LabLearner^TM, was designed to address all of these issues. We have been successful in applying cutting edge knowledge from cognitive neuroscience and education theory to create an innovative system that consists of a full curriculum, functioning in-school lab, teacher professional development, and ongoing program support. Since its roll out, LabLearner has rapidly spread across the country into both public and private schools. However, once LabLearner students leave eighth grade and enter high school, they’re often well ahead of their peers who have not experienced LabLearner science education and are faced with a steady diet of lectures and textbook assignments rather than meaningful lab experiences and problem-solving activities.

Now, at the request of high school administrators who enroll students from LabLearner middle schools, Cognitive Learning Systems is introducing its first high school science education program for the ninth grade, Exploration21^TM. Exploration 21 offers in-depth, cross-disciplinary science education by focusing the entire academic year on only three units, or “Sectors”, designed to be of particular interest to first-year high school students. The first Sector, ASTEROID IMPACT, is based on the real-life asteroid, Apophis, which will arrive near the Earth in 2029. In the second Sector, CONCUSSION, students follow a ninth-grade soccer player, Nickie, as she recovers from a head injury obtained in a game. The third Sector, NASCAR, focuses on the physics, chemistry, and biology involved in racing.

Not only does focusing the curriculum on just three Sectors allow in-depth coverage of each subject, but the very nature of the Sectors are such that they can be used to teach scientific concepts across the entire spectrum of state and federal science education standards. Also, unlike other curricula, Exploration21 addresses each and every scientific concept in real-life context, with weekly hands-on laboratories. Each Sector spans months, as opposed to days or weeks. Simply stated, Exploration21 is the antithesis of “mile wide, inch deep” science education! As in all other Cognitive Learning Systems programs, students learn rigorous science because they are interested and are having fun while learning!

Exploration21 will first be introduced to ninth grade students at Archbishop Wood High School in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia this Fall! Exploration21 will then become available for national distribution for the 2011/12 school year. We are looking forward to working with Archbishop Wood principal, Mary Harkins, and her science faculty to bring the very best in science education to their students. Watch for more information as it becomes available on the Exploration21 website at exploration21.com.

By: Dr. Christine Jurasinski; LabLearner Staff Scientist

“Why do we need to understand photosynthesis?” This may be a question that students all over the world, including LabLearner students ask. For many, the information about a plant process may seem unrelated to their current or future interests. But, what research has shown us over and over again is that one never knows how fields, concepts, and technology will interact. Some of the latest research from MIT proves just that.

Dr. Angela Belcher and colleagues have found a way to use a photosynthetic-like process to split water in order to create hydrogen fuel. For years, researchers have been contemplating how to create this type of artificial photosynthesis. Dr. Belcher and her team now appear to have taken the first step in not only creating artificial photosynthesis but also in using it as a way to produce alternative fuels.

From an energy level, LabLearner students should recall that photosynthesis involves the conversion of light to chemical energy. Light from the sun is used to drive a chemical reaction which produces oxygen and sugars from carbon dioxide and water. Many will recognize the chemical equation for this overall process

Although the equation above makes it appear as if all of this occurs in one step, in reality, photosynthesis involves many steps and reactions. Essential to the process are plant pigments including the pigment chlorophyll. Plant pigments absorb or capture photons and thus the energy of light. Ultimately, in most plants, the energy is transferred to molecules of chlorophyll. Once absorbed, this energy then causes the transfer of electrons from chlorophyll molecules to other molecules within a plant’s cell. These molecules in turn transport electrons to other molecules. This process is called electron transfer and produces energy. This energy is used to drive the reactions that produce sugar from carbon dioxide. In addition, as a part of this electron transfer, water molecules are split producing hydrogen and oxygen.

Dr. Belcher and her colleagues have mimicked these processes on a nano-scale. To do this they used a harmless virus called M13, a pigment called zinc porphyrin, and a catalyst called iridium oxide. They altered the virus so that it would attract and bind to the molecules of pigment and catalyst. The final structure resembled a thin wire with a coating around it. The virus was the wire and the pigments and catalysts the coating. When exposed to sunlight, the pigments absorbed photons of light and transferred energy down the length of the virus/wire much like the chlorphyll and other pigments in plants. This energy was then used by the catalyst to split water that surrounded the virus/wire into oxygen and protons and electrons; a process similar to that which occurs during electron transfer in plant cells.

(image: A computer visualization of the biologically-based system shows the virus itself (in yellow) with molecules of pigment (in pink) and of the metal catalyst (brown spheres) attached to its surface. The pigment and catalyst cause water molecules to split apart when they come in contact. Click on image to view original article. Graphic courtesy of Angela Belcher.)

Once the protons and electrons produced from the splitting of water re-combine, hydrogen can be produced. It is this last half of the process on which Dr. Belcher and colleagues are currently working. They anticipate completing this last step as well as making a more affordable prototype for artificial photosynthesis within the next two years.

So why is all of this important and how does it relate to what LabLearner students learn? Well, currently water can be split, and hydrogen made using electricity. However, the generation of electricity often comes from fossil fuels. Other researchers have used solar panels to produce electricity, which is then used to split water, but this system is less efficient because of its multiple steps. The system created by Dr. Belcher would skip many of the intermediate steps and create hydrogen directly from sunlight, just like photosynthesis. If this type of system can be created on a larger scale, solar energy could be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen could be stored in fuel cells and then used later to produce electricity or converted into other liquid fuels. The result would be a more efficient and “green” method of producing alternative fuels.

As for relating to the LabLearner curriculum, artificial photosynthesis requires knowledge of the photosynthetic process, properties of light, energy transfer, chemical reactions, and electron flow. These topics are those studied by both elementary and middle school students in CELLs such as Chemistry, Matter and Interactions, Forms of Energy, Light, Exploring Electricity, Chemical Reactions, Electricity and Magnetism, Photosynthesis, and Light and Optics.

Finally, consider whether this and future research would evolve if Dr. Belcher and others had never learned about photosynthesis. Her research as well as that of researchers in all other fields is showing us that the future lies in the combination rather than the isolation of knowledge. You just never know when you will use what you’ve learned and how it will affect the future.

Dr. Christine Jurasinski
LabLearner Staff Scientist

How can you control brain activity?  It’s a question that has fascinated us for centuries.  Now, new research suggests that one way may lie with a strategy called optogenetics- the combination of optical and genetics techniques.

Neuroengineer Edward Boyden and his colleagues at MIT have recently discovered a way to use optogenetics to turn neurons within the brain on and off by simply exposing them to a certain wavelength of light.  Their research has far reaching implications for the treatment of conditions such as epilepsy, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as providing a new way for understanding and studying cognition, emotion and other functions of the brain.

Boyden and his collaborators discovered a protein found in a special type of bacteria called archeabacteria that inhabits the Dead Sea. Archeabacteria are a type of bacteria that tend to inhabit extreme environments like hot springs, arctic environment, sulfurous springs or the high salt concentration of the Dead Sea.

The protein they discovered acts as a pump in cells, moving protons out of the cells when active.  They also discovered that this protein, called the Arch protein, can be activated or turned on by light of yellow/green wavelength. Because protons carry a single positive charge, the movement of protons out of a cell changes the voltage within the cell.  The inside of the cell becomes more negative as compared to the outside of the cell.  As neurons work in part through electrical signals, changes in voltage are key to controlling their activity and their ability to fire and signal other neurons.

But, it’s what came next that illustrates that controlling the brain through light may not be as far off in the future as it seems.  These researchers engineered the neurons of mice to produce the Arch protein.  They then implanted a light source in the brain of the mice and found that when the Arch protein was activated in the neurons by the yellow/green light, it pumped protons outside the cells.  As a result the voltage inside the neurons dropped and stopped them from firing! In essence the researchers were able to use light to stop neurons within the brain from firing, silencing an area of the brain.

Once the light was turned off, the Arch protein turned off and “reset” itself.  Within seconds it was able to be activated by light again.  Thus, a combination of yellow/green light and the Arch protein, acted as an “electrical switch” for neurons controlling their active and inactive state.

In addition to the Arch protein, Boyden and his colleagues have found several other proton pumps that respond to other wavelengths of light including those in the red and blue ends of the spectrum.  What they hope is that by combining the different proteins and wavelengths of light different neurons and different areas of the brain could be controlled simultaneously.

How does this related to LabLearner students? Students in the LabLearner Program spend time in 4^th and 6^th grade studying the properties of light including how absorption and transmission of different wavelengths of light affect our perception of color and control biological processes such as photosynthesis.  This new research shows that understanding light and its properties may be just as important in uncovering the processes of cognition, emotion and in treating brain disorders and diseases.

Dr. Christine Jurasinski
LabLearner Staff Scientist

Mutation, allele, gene.  What do you think of when you hear these words?  Perhaps DNA comes to mind or disease or the workings of a cell.  But what about evolution?  For many, evolution brings to mind words like Darwin, finches, beaks, and fossils rather than mutations, alleles and genes.

But what about LabLearner students?  While they may begin their exploration of evolution, adaptation, mutations and natural selection by focusing on each of these topics in discrete CELLs such as Ecosystems and Adaptation,  Inheritance and Adaptation, and Genes and Proteins, they have the opportunity to combine all of this knowledge into a more complex and more scientifically “real” concept in the 7^th grade CELL Adaptation: a CELL that sets them up for understanding some of the latest research into the molecular mechanisms for how species adapt and evolve.

This newest research comes out of the lab of Dr. Erica Rosenblum of the University of Idaho.  She and her colleagues have uncovered some intriguing information about the genetic process of evolution.  Their research is centered around three species of lizards. Each of these three species exist with dark skin in many areas around the world but have evolved a white skinned variation in the White Sands of New Mexico.  And what strikes the researchers as amazing is that in two of the species, it was accomplished by DIFFERENT MUTATIONS in the SAME GENE.  Even more interesting is that one mutation is DOMINANT while the other is RECESSIVE.

As fifth grade LabLearner students learn, many organisms have two copies of each gene.  One copy on one chromosome.  The other on the other chromosome.  The two copies of the gene are called alleles.  In one of the simplest examples of inheritance of traits, one allele is dominant the other is recessive.  Organisms with two dominant alleles will show the dominant version of a trait such as brown fur.  Organisms with one dominant and one recessive allele will also have the dominant brown fur trait.  However, organisms with two recessive alleles will have the recessive trait of white fur.

What Dr. Rosenblum discovered was that in one species of lizard, the white skin was the result of a dominant allele but in the other species of lizard, the white skin was the result of a recessive allele.  In both cases, the lizards evolved from having brown skin, but it was through different methods of inheritance.

How did this happen?  The answer involves selection pressure and mutations.  About 5000 to 7000 years ago, evaporating lakes in that area of New Mexico left behind huge deposits of gypsum which eroded away leaving an entirely white area of desert in what had once been a brown area.  Lizards which had been living there were brown skinned, which served as excellent camouflage from aerial predators.  However, as the terrain began to change, brown skin against and increasingly white background no longer served to camouflage the lizards, making them easy prey.

What scientists believe happened is that a mutation, a change in the DNA in the gene that controls the color of pigment in the lizards’ skin occurred.  This mutation may have occurred before but would not have likely been retained in the lizard population because white skinned lizards in a brown desert would have been an easy target for predators.  However, a mutation that occurred when the sands were white would have produced white skinned lizards that blended in with their surroundings.  These lizards would have been more likely than the brown skinned lizards to survive to produce offspring.  These offspring would have the mutated gene for producing white skin.  Thus, more and more lizards with allele for white skin would be born because the white sands now “selected for” this allele.

In one species of lizard, the mutation was dominant meaning the trait produced by the gene required only one copy of the gene in order for the skin to be white. The gene on only one chromosome had to be present. In the other species of the lizard, the mutation was recessive.  In other words, in order for the skin to be white, both copies of the mutated gene (one on each chromosome) had to be present.

For 7^th grade LabLearner students, this real life example with the lizards epitomizes the concepts they have learned in the Adaptation and Genes and Proteins CELLs.  Evolution and natural selection occur because of changes in DNA.  Changes in DNA can result in differences in proteins and thus traits produced in an organism.  These types of changes can be seen by looking at the frequency of alleles for a trait.  If one trait is selected over another than the allele which produces that trait will appear more frequently in the population.  This is what Dr. Rosenblum and her colleagues would expect to see when comparing the alleles for skin color in lizards in the White Sands area to those same species of lizards in other areas of the world with a brown habitat.

For LabLearner students, the next question would be:

Which species of lizard would you expect to evolve faster, the ones with the dominant or recessive allele?

Based on what they know about modes of inheritance, those 7^th grades and even 5^th graders should predict—lizards with the dominant allele.  It’s what Dr. Rosenblum predicts and what she and her colleagues will continue to explore.

From her research and those of so many others we see that evolution and our study of it continues. What makes it different from Darwin’s time is that we now have the molecular tools to better understand how and why.

A Message from the President
Dr. Keith Verner

As all LabLearner students, teachers, and parents know, the LabLearner program does not assign a particular textbook. Since it is a 100% hands-on curriculum, most of the learning that occurs in LabLearner takes place in the lab, through first-hand observation. However, students obtain additional scientific information in their workbooks (Scientist Data Records), lecture notes, and NOW on the web.

The Internet is an exceptionally good source of information for LabLearner students. First, there is a nearly limitless number of excellent websites focused on essentially every science topic imaginable. Second, the form of information on the Internet is multimedia in nature. One may easily find live color video transmissions from the surface of Mars, virtual experiments involving essentially any physics principle, extensive photographs and video of every ecological biome on Earth, or a millimeter-by-millimeter trip through a real human body – all in color and with sound if necessary! In addition, students may download, store, and share absolutely any information they find with their teachers and peers. It is simply impossible to duplicate such a resource with any textbook.

It is also important to consider that the form of information available on the Internet – its multimedia, interactive nature – plays directly into the hands of K-8 LabLearner students. This is the form of information that they are brought up with and will need to use every day in the future, regardless of where they go to school, college, or where their careers ultimately take them. How many of us adults, in our professional work, find ourselves on the phone looking at the same website as the person we are talking to. How many times have we ended the discussion with something like “OK, I’ve just sent you the link.” or “I’ll print that for the staff meeting tomorrow?” LabLearner students can use the Internet exactly the same way… it is the future.

Finally, it is easy to find scientific websites directed at virtually any age/grade level. For example, if one types in – heat transfer eighth grade – into Google, over 32,000 sites appear, while if only – heat transfer – is typed in, over 36,000,000 hits are obtained! It is amazing how quickly information can be filtered on the web. On the other hand, it is still a daunting task for LabLearner students, teachers, or parents to pick the most relevant of these sites to relate to specific LabLearner curriculum CELLs. Therefore, LabLearner has done this for them. Our new LabLearnerLinks website provides from three to five relevant, quality websites for each curriculum CELL. It’s that simple.

It is our hope that LabLearnerLinks will be the beginning of a lifelong relationship between the search for scientific knowledge and the Internet, for all of our students, their teachers, and parents.