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Katie McDougall, “Pasco Probes for EcoZone Summative Assessment”
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The MUMS science department continues to appreciate VASE support in developing our EcoZone project.
This year, VASE’s Small Equipment grant allowed us to purchase additional probes for collecting data on
student eco-zones. However due to COVID-19, we were unable to complete the project this year. Our new
curriculum plan, with the addition to a new grade level to MUMS, is to use the EcoZones as a full year 7th
grade project to introduce and apply the concepts of matter, chemical reactions, thermal energy and the role of
water. The probes made possible by the VASE grant will allow us to collect data on the internal environment in
each EcoZone, thereby allowing students to connect real world data with concepts from class. For example,
students will continue to explore the concepts of photosynthesis and cellular respiration through the analysis of
data provided in the oxygen and carbon dioxide probes. Not only will these data help students make
connections, but they can also help students make data-driven decisions about changes to the internal
components of their system.
The grant will allow us to develop single container systems like the one shown below or multiple container
systems that are interdependent.
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