1970s stock footage - teaching science in urban high schools

[Music] the same organisms that we find here in this water that we see under the microscope here can we find these same organisms in our drinking water I have a little sister at home she don't um eat the pain she plays with it and I would like to know if there any danger towards that suppose you're listening to a radio and you're using an earphone I want before the noise will affect your ears how come in the morning when uh you turn on the water uh the water is cloudy first of all questions from high school students awaken suddenly to the fact that science may play an important part in their lives in the water all too often High School science students have been unable to Rel relate what they are learning to the society they live in to demonstrate that science is relevant to the local community a mobile science laboratory is now traveling from high school to high school in Washington DC it stays at one School location from 1 to two weeks supplementing and enriching the regular classroom programs the lab is a pilot project created at Federal City College in Washington in cooperation with the public schools of the District of Columbia and backed by a grant from the National Science Foundation not more or less it's a working laboratory that stresses topics of concern to local citizens air water and noise pollution nutrition cigarette smoking drugs it shows how these problems affect the community and what can be done to solve them a child who is eating paint can die can become blind mentally for Life what we have in this Baker here is what we consider as polluted water what happens is man breathes the carbon dioxide under normal conditions to the upper portion of the lungs but in as much as carbon monoxide is in the air it acts as a catalyst and it causes man to inhale it deeper into the lungs where he cannot throw it out there are five scientific Specialties presented in the lab physics mathematics applied science chemistry and biology science undergraduates at pedol city college present the material place the plant under the beler and then put the sodium sulfite into the first filtering flas and the sodium carbonate into the second fil filtering flask the next thing you want to do is to pour the sodium sulfate one and other to each filtering flask what will happen we' have mixed the chemicals and as soon as we pour the sulfuric acid into the filtering flas you'll see a reaction and the gases will flow into the chamber high school students rotate from specialty to Specialty actually participating in Practical experiments some may discover for themselves the damaging effects of sulfur dioxide a major pollutant of the air Others May test samples of paint from their own homes the students process the paint samples and are able to discover for themselves whether or not the paint in their homes is a potential Hazard to young children if the final step produces a yellow precipitate the presence of lead is confirmed sound is beautiful but noise is hazardous to the hear right still another group May learn about noise pollution and in the process becomes acquainted with sophisticated instrumentation frequency we're going to talk in terms of animal life and water now others may be learning about water pollution comparing the behavior of animals in water known to be fresh against their behavior in water taken from local rivers and streams there's no life in it and begin to pour junk into it the sun helps to trap the particles still Others May duplicate the techniques used in municipal water purification plants filtering samples from the local water source and testing them for Purity all the way down here it passes over these rocks these rocks are just natural while this is going on other students are learning about mathematical variables and percentages working with data from the various experiments math is given meaning by relating it to the experiments the student themselves are performing there's a six down the bottom here right so one of the considerations is what number in off school hours and during the summer months the lab in coordination with Community groups remains open parents and other people from the neighborhood are encouraged to come in and learn how science is relevant to them the aim here as well as that of the school program is only partly to provide learning about scientific matters equally important is generating appreciation interest and even enthusiasm about science learning about the role it plays in urban life from in some cases it may be a very personal Awakening to a problem in the students's own home how come people can drink that water it may encourage some students to want to help solve the problems of our environment it may even awaken interest that could launch others into careers in science for the college students doing the teaching there is a special benefit for they are demonstrating to themselves as well as to others that science is relevant in today's world and through it they are able to make a meaningful [Music] contribution