10.14.07

Featured Teacher: Elaine Paulishak

If you know a high school teacher who really knows how to motivate students to learn about science, email us why they should become our next Featured Teacher.

Elaine Paulishak teaches 8th grade physical science at Mid Valley Secondary Center in Throop, Pennsylvania.  She has participated in a variety of science field research including monitoring radiation levels in Colorado, studying thermal vents in the Pacific Ocean and surveying the coast of Alaska using Multibeam Sonar.  A finalist for Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, she recently received a prestigious Toyota Tapestry Award to study coal mine chemistry.

In My Own Words

There is an abundance of information, activities and resources for studying sound using Internet sites.  One interactive site, Discovery of Sound in the Sea, provides a hands-on activity that allows students to discover how scientists and researchers use SONAR (SOund Navigation And Ranging) to explore the sea floor.  My experience using SONAR took me to Alaska to board the NOAA Ship Fairweather in July of 2006.  Because of this extraordinary opportunity, I provide the following inquiry simulation to my students.

As the students role play as oceanographers and technicians, they travel along the Aleutian Island Chain using Multibeam SONAR technology to map the ocean bottom.  Students and/or teachers build a model of the seafloor out of a copy paper box and styrofoam.  Students collect data from the model and organize it using grids and data tables by hand on paper and by computer with Excel.  Students will use the data collected to create and build 2 or 3 dimensional topographical maps and graphs.  After students have taken readings, calculated depths using formulas, and map their "piece" of ocean by using color coded tiling techniques and computer graphics, they analyze their results.  After drawing their conclusions, the students get to have an "ah-hah" moment as they open their "ocean box" to see if their hypotheses were correct.  This activity and others can be accessed from the web at Discovery of Sound in the Sea by entering Teacher Resources and then looking under Classroom Activities for "Thinking Inside the Box."


Additional Web Resources
Information, Power Point presentations, and other interactive activities on sound and SONAR may be found at:

NOAA Ocean Explorer
NOAA Ocean Explorer - Sounds of the Southern Ocean
NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER
Discovery of Sound in the Sea
Wikipedia -- Aleutian Islands
National Academy of Sciences -- Sounding Out the Ocean's Secrets
Wikipedia -- Sonar
NOAA Vents Program -- Acoustic Monitoring
The Institute for Marine Acoustics -- Acoustics and Sonar Primer

More About Elaine Paulishak
Hi, I am Elaine Paulishak.  Currently, I am teaching and learning from my 8th grade physical science students at Mid Valley Secondary Center in Throop, Pennsylvania.  I enjoy the energy and enthusiasm that my students bring into the classroom each day.  My goal is to give them as many experiences in science as possible and to find ways to keep their interest peaked.  I have met this challenge through many opportunities to engage in research and learn from scientists and colleagues throughout the United States.  In 1990, I met a Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Glenn Seaborg.  He lectured us in a program called "Science for Science Teachers" on the UC campus in Berkeley, California.  He was inspiring because at that time he was about 90 years old and still doing research.

Later, in 1994, as a TRAC fellow, I assisted ecologists in Rocky Flats, Colorado for two months as we set up plant transects and monitored radiation levels.  In 1998, as a Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Fellow, I traveled to Japan with fellow teachers to study schools and Japanese Culture.  The summer of 2000 was a particularly exciting one as I boarded the Research Vessel, the Thomas B. Thompson, and commenced studies of hydrothermal vents on the Juan de Fuca plate of the Pacific Ocean with scientists from the University of Washington and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.  This was known as the REVEL Project (Research and Education, Volcanoes, Exploration and Life).  It was exciting because this was my first experience on a ship out on the ocean 200 miles from land.

My goal - to give my students as much as I could offer - was being met.  In 2003, I was honored to receive commendation as a Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year Finalist.  Again, in 2006, after being accepted into the ARMADA Project, I was able to be ocean-bound on the NOAA Ship. FAIRWEATHER, whose mission was to conduct hydrographic surveys using multi-beam sonar along the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.  This year I was privileged to receive a large grant from the Toyota TAPESTRY foundation.  The grant - Coal Mine Chemistry:  A Canary Sings a Science Lesson - now gives my students the opportunity to study chemistry in conjunction with their heritage.

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