GLOBE Hydrology

GLOBE Hydrology

Naperville Community Unit School District 203

May 18, 2006

Ms. Kouri met some of her 4th and 5th graders at Herrick Lake. Her students raised some Bass Fish in her classroom this year. On Thursday, May 18th, 2006 they went to Herrick Lake and released one of them after they carefully checked the temperature. They enthusiastically waved good by to their scaled friend. Mr. Lopatka helped students take GPS readings of the site, so that they could let GLOBE teachers, students and scientists know where Herrick Lake was located on the globe. They also measured the PH, conductivity, temperature and turbidity of the water. The site became the second Highlands School GLOBE Hydrology site. They have been monitoring the water at the DuPage River for several years. They have also been monitoring macro invertebrates at the river site. Ms. Kouri was thrilled to see 2 of her former students on Late Night with David Letterman.

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The Bass has been in Highlands School since September and is ready for a new home.	One of the students checks the conductivity of the lake water.
The Conductivity was low. (Pollutants make the water more conductive)	Ms. Kouri checks the temperature, so that the bass will not suffer shock.
Students use a turbidity tube to check the transparency of the water.	Students used PH paper to check the water for acid. The water had a PH of 6.5


Mr. Lopatka checks the altitude, latitude and longitude of the new GLOBE Hydrology site.	The temperature is good, so the students say good by to their scaled friend.
The fish was reluctant to leave the safety of the pail and enter the lake.	After much coaxing, the Fish finally heads out to it's new home.

The following article was copied from the Naperville Sun with permission.

His flame to fame

Things that make you go poof: Kennedy student's experiment a blast on 'Late Show'

Kate Szrom / Staff photographer

Kennedy Junior High School students Ike Swetlitz, left, a seventh-grader, and Nate Weeks, a sixth-grader, appeared Monday on "The Late Show with David Letterman" during its "Kid Scientist" segment. While Swetlitz's experiment demonstrating Newton's first law of motion wasn't so wild, Weeks' simulation of a grain elevator explosion shot a mushroom cloud toward Letterman's face.

courtesy of CBS

Kennedy Junior High School sixth-grader Nate Weeks (right) performs an experiment on The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday. Weeks' experiment simulating a grain elevator explosion shot a mushroom cloud in the air, nearly burning the talk-show host.

By Tim Waldorf

staff writer

Kennedy Junior High School sixth-grader Nate Weeks wasn't nervous when he appeared Monday on the "Late Show with David Letterman" during its "Kid Scientist" segment. He was just a little rattled when it was over and he realized he'd forgotten to wear safety goggles while simulating a grain elevator explosion right under Letterman's nose.

"For the rest of the thing I was like, 'Man, I almost burned David Letterman's face off," Weeks said.

Weeks was one of three area students who appeared on the late-night talk show Monday. Kennedy seventh-grader Ike Swetlitz and Wheaton Christian Grammar School seventh-grader Emily Bonga also performed scientific experiments on the show. The three made the trip to New York City with retired Naperville North High School science teacher Lee Marek and Naperville Central High School science teacher Jaci Gentile. Marek and Gentile have taken groups of Naperville students to appear on the show 15 times since Oct. 30, 1997.

Kennedy seventh-graders James Mitchell and Vicky Wei also made the trip but weren't selected to appear on the show.

Letterman's producers selected the five students from a group of about a dozen recommended to Marek and Gentile by district science teachers. Each student performs a scientific demonstration on camera and explains the scientific principles at work, and the producers pick their favorites.

When they arrive at the show, the kids audition again for the producers, who pick three to perform with Letterman.

"This time they had asked for some fire or explosions," Gentile said. "Something big."

Weeks' dust fire experiment went up in flames – which meant it was a huge success.

Bonga went second, turning a 2-liter bottle into a rocket that shot into the studio lights and sprayed water everywhere.

Then it was Swetlitz's turn. By then the pressure was off, he said.

"I think I was more nervous when they were choosing who was going to go on and who wasn't going to go on then when we were actually doing it," he said.

Swetlitz was asked to perform an experiment he hadn't rehearsed. He ended up using a piece of PVC pipe with a piece of wood bolted around it to demonstrate Newton's first law of motion – that objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by another force. He took a mallet and struck the pipe to demonstrate that while it looked like the wood was moving, in reality the pipe was.

"I think he thought it was pretty cool," Swetlitz said of Letterman's reaction. "But I think he liked some of the exploding ones better."

- Contact Tim Waldorf at (630) 416-5270 or twaldorf@scn1.com.

05/18/06

GLOBE Stars

GLOBE Hydrology Study websites:

Steeple Run Spring 2005 Hydrology in Naperville

Steeple Run Fall 2005 Hydrology in Naperville

Steeple Run Spring 2006 Hydrology in Naperville

Steeple Run Fall 2006 Hydrology in Naperville

Steeple Run Spring 2007 Hydrology in Naperville

Steeple Run students at the Morton Arboretum 2005

Steeple Run Soil Temperature

Steeple Run Bass Release