Two groups of students from the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, on two consecutive days, listened attentively while Lab scientists gave a tour of the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) — the most versatile and productive accelerator mass spectrometry facility in the world — and answered questions about the applications of carbon dating.

Not a big deal, unless you consider that the students never left their classrooms. For more than one hour, they participated from their schools in San Ramon, some 30 miles from the Livermore Lab.

Dubbed “Scientists in the Classroom,” this remote interactive pilot is a new educational project being developed by the Lab’s Science Education Program (SEP) in collaboration with the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) to help establish a model for the “Classroom of the 21st Century.”

All Photo credit to Jacqueline McBride/NEWSLINE

With the help of the Lawrence Livermore Television Network (LLTN) and the Public Affairs Office, students from a seventh-grade science class at San Ramon’s Gale Ranch Middle School, and juniors and seniors in an accelerated biology class at San Ramon Valley High School ‘virtually’ toured the CAMS facility, and talked in real time with LLNL researchers about the equipment they use and the approaches they take to answer their research questions. In addition, the students took this opportunity to ask the researchers about the personal pathways that led to their science careers.

Jacqueline McBride/NEWSLINE

A student listens to the live broadcast from LLNL’s Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.

Students take remote tour of CAMS

Lab scientist John Knezovich, accompanied by postdoctoral researchers Karis McFarlane (middle school session) and Miranda Sarachine (high school session) explained the basics of mass spectrometry, a technology that has been used since early in this century to study the makeup of substances, highlighting how they use this tool to support their research at LLNL.

Knezovich, the former director of CAMS and now the director of Strategic University Relations at LLNL, on both days led a tour of the facility, highlighting the massive tank — the Van de Graaff Accelerator — used to break up carbon-bearing molecules so that carbon-14 can be precisely measured. CAMS performs more than 25,000 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements per year to identify the isotopic composition of substances.

Knezovich demonstrated how a small sample of a substance could be inserted into a wheel-like mechanism and then placed into the spectrometer where it is ionized. The process looks at the motion of the ions in an electromagnetic field to sort them by their mass-to-charge ratios. The basic principle is that isotopes of different masses move differently in a given electromagnetic field.

With this technology, carbon-14 molecules can precisely be counted in order to discover the age of archaeologic, geologic and other substances. Knezovich went on to talk about one of the more current and exotic uses — analyzing the age of elephant tusks to determine poaching crimes in Africa.

Science lesson excites seventh grade class

“Our teachers told us that we were going to talk to scientists at Lawrence Livermore Lab, but this is even more amazing,” Augustine Chempavathy, a seventh grade student in the session at the Gale Ranch Middle School, said enthusiastically.

“We got to see inside of the Laboratory,” fellow student Rishi Krishnana said.

Was the presentation over their heads? Hardly —Chemovarathy and Krishnana were part of a five-student team that recently competed in the annual Department of Energy’s Science Bowl in Washington D.C. The team landed in second place and received an award from First Lady Michelle Obama.

Classroom teacher Christy Tyler was as excited as her students about the videoconferencing capability linking the Livermore Lab to her classroom. “The session helped me reach my goal — to bring my teaching to life,” she explained. “This brought science into my classroom which opened up the walls. My classroom is way beyond this classroom,” adding that the session could now connect the classroom curriculum on carbon dating to real-world applications.

Mini Chempavathy, a parent who observed the middle school session, said it was wonderful that the students got a glimpse of what scientists do and where they work. “They can get excited about what scientists do,” she said.

High school students eager to learn about mass spectrometry

The second videoconference from CAMS to the San Ramon Valley High School featured Knezovich and Sarachine, focusing on the use of accelerator mass spectrometry for biological research that began at LLNL more than 20 years ago. They discussed the use of AMS for evaluating new drugs, as well as nutrients and potentially toxic substances.

The audience for this session included advanced placement biology students, proficient in science, with many seniors heading to prestigious schools like Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Knezovich and Sarachine explained how carbon-14 can act as a tracer. For example, once a drug is tagged with carbon-14, only a tiny amount of the compound needs to be ingested. The compound's distribution and metabolism can then be followed by measuring carbon-14 tagged metabolites that appear in small samples of blood or urine over time.

Jacqueline McBride/NEWSLINE

Robin Groch’s biology students at San Ramon Valley High School ask John Knezovich and Miranda Sarachine, at CAMS, about scientific applications for carbon-14.

Ultimately, this approach will allow physicians to prescribe treatments that are tailored to the individual's metabolism.

The high school session proved to be highly interactive, with Knezovich tossing out questions and both he and Sarachine answering questions about carbon dating and other scientific applications of this technique.

Student Ryan Pearce thought the videoconference was “cool.” “It opens up possibilities for talking to people from different labs and research institutes,” he said.

Robin Groch, high school science teacher, said that having ‘Scientists in the Classroom’ eliminates the costs required to take a class on a field trip and allows students access to places that would otherwise be closed to them.

“This capability has a value because it is wonderful to go places without leaving the classroom,” Groch said.

Pilot fosters ‘world-class learning environment’

The pilot program was initially spearheaded by SRVUSD Superintendent Steven Enoch and administrators who visited LLNL last year to explore partnership opportunities to create “a world-class learning environment” for district students.

The program is being evaluated for expansion into future visits by students throughout the Tri-Valley into other LLNL research facilities during the next school year. Videos of these virtual tours will become available for streaming into classrooms.