Experiencing Nanotechnology Using ‘Scanning Electron Microscope’ – Jamestown Post Journal

Students from Ellicottvilles CTE Center are learning to use a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Science teacher Cathleen Woods is shown with her students from the morning Medical Assisting class examining a hair with split ends from the Cosmetology class. Submitted photo

ELLICOTTVILLE Students at the Ellicottville Career and Technical Education Center have a leg up on most peers their age, because they are learning nanotechnology and are receiving hands-on experience in the operation of the JEOL6010LA Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

Through the use of a SEM, they are imaging, analyzing and manipulating materials at the nanoscale. They are being trained in material analysis and reporting methods while working with biologics, electronics and mechanical nano-materials.

Counselor Vince Oliverio said the SEM was funded with a Perkins Consortium grant, which is a Federally Funded Public School grant. CABOCES manages the grant for the districts it serves, thereby benefiting all of the districts.

According to science teacher Cathleen Woods, Oleans CTE Center also has one, but its a big, floor-model and not as user-friendly. She received some training on it at the end of the school-year last summer, prior to the arrival of the SEM at the Ellicottville location.

This one is much easier and Jim Schifley, CTE Administrator for Curriculum and Instruction, showed me how to use it in a day. Its very easy to operate, she said.

Woods looks at the science behind each CTE program as she integrates the nanotechnology class into every class at the center. She works as a support instructor, along with the other teachers, and develops lessons that enhance what is already being learned. She called it cooperative teaching and said they work together as a team.

One example was when I went into the Cosmetology class and did a lesson on how a perm works and the chemistry behind it, she said. We did a lotion lab to test different lotions to see which ones are the best, based on the percent of water thats retained.

Woods had students from the morning Medical Assisting class use the SEM to examine a strand of hair with split ends. The report for the hair shows the element number, element symbol, element name, weight and concentration, in addition to percentage of error. Elements in a strand of hair that has been color treated, for example, include oxygen, carbon, titanium, silicon, magnesium, sodium and iron.

One time, the Medical Assisting class came in and we did a lesson on how disease is spread, like hepatitis. They swabbed chemicals and then did a test for hepatitis. If someone tests positive, the solution gets very thick and white, she said.

The welding program is also using science and SEM. Woods and welding instructor Dave Poulin have a whole book of units theyve developed and, throughout the year, he will ask her to come to his class and do a lesson, such as a thermal energy lesson.

The project were working on now is in its initial stages, she said. There are electrodes with a coating on them that provide a protective shield for the weld, so contaminants dont get in. The flux also has elements that help with a slag deposition that has to be chiseled off, ending in the finished weld.

The class took images of these three items and analyzed the elements in each to make correlations between them.

Woods said its very formal with standards, assessments and a test. Through the use of the SEM, students can examine what is happening during the process of what they are doing. The microscope reports what elements are present during the procedure. Woods said the students have to know the fluxes and the elements, as well as the purpose of certain elements in the flux because its part of their certification test. SEM is another avenue they can use and it helps them learn.

Woods said her project, right now, is getting every CTE class to work with the scanning electron microscope and hopefully generate a poster of something they have imaged. She presents a class demo to show the kids the basics, then two students at a time come in to pick an item and image it. She said they can image something and use that experience in their resume; they can also take pictures and put them in their portfolio. The students identify the object, do research on it and then do a writeup to document that experience.

After graduation, the students may not walk into a job that has a SEM, but the fact that they have been exposed to it and have used it is a technical skill is an experience that even a Regents-bound student probably would not have, she said.

The program introduces students to the promise and potential of nanotechnology as it relates to Material Science Engineering. The rigorous course of study at the high school level includes opportunities for both in-class instruction as well as hands-on experimental challenges to prepare students for college and careers in science, technology and engineering.

A native of Portville, Woods currently resides in Springville. Shes been on staff at Ellicottvilles CTE Center since 2002. She said it was so different back then and having this technology makes it much more amazing.

Woods said the whole initiative with the nanotechnology comes from Tracie Preston, Assistant Superintendent for Career and Technical Education Programs. Woods said shes a big supporter of this technology and its also a vision of Principal Noel Sheehy.

To find out more about the career and technical education programs offered by the Ellicottville, Olean and Belmont centers, visit online at caboces.org.

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