- Jawaher Alsultan
- PhD candidate
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- Sarina Ergas
- http://cee.eng.usf.edu/faculty/sergas/
- Professor
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- Allan Feldman
- https://www.usf.edu/education/faculty/faculty-profiles/allan-feldman.aspx
- Professor
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- KebreAb Ghebremichael
- Associate Professor
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- Ojas Kalia
- Research Intern
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- Itze Kenney
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- Elizabeth Vicario
- Graduate Student
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
- Selene Willis
- http://selenewillis.com
- PhD Candidate
- Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
- University of South Florida
RES Track I: US-Ghana Collaboration: Providing Opportunities for Global Resea...
NSF Awards: 1827132
2021 (see original presentation & discussion)
Grades 9-12, Informal / multi-age
This project engages high school, graduate, and undergraduate students from STEM, STEM education, public health, and social sciences in carrying out multidisciplinary research in Water and Sanitation challenges in both the US and Ghana. In 2019, students focused on the development and use of biosand filters to work effectively in developing countries. In this year, students were involved in research activities to develop and test model anaerobic biodigesters(ABDs) to digest food waste to produce biogas. The model ABDs will be used by middle and high school students to engage in authentic research to determine how to improve biogas production.This video tells the story behind the focus on ABDs, the development of the model and associated educational materials, and a pilot trial. All of the resources developed will be available online (http://bit.ly/BSF_TeacherMaterials).
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Jamie Bell
Project Director
Congratulations on creating this project with rich, authentic STEM content. I'm curious about where the high school students reside and what the relationships are between them, teachers, undergrads and graduate students? Are you using a mentorship model?
Troy Sadler
Fascinating work. How much of curricular focus do the biodigester activities become in US and Ghana classrooms?
Allan Feldman
Professor
Hi Troy- We're really at the beginning of the use of the biodigester materials. We were hoping to implement them in Ghana this summer but that's not happening because of Covid. Right now one of Dana's doctoral students is testing out the materials in her middle school science classes. That's Selene in the video.
Jamie Bell
Project Director
Thanks Allan. Ah, so the graduate students are mentoring the middle school students in this project?
Allan Feldman
Professor
Right now we are piloting it in a middle school. The teacher, Selene Willis, is also a doctoral student in science ed. She is being helped by environmental engineering students. Our grant is to work with high school students in Ghana. We did this using biosand filters a couple of years ago, but have not been back because of the pandemic. We expect to go next summer and have as the focus the biodigesters. The high school students in Ghana will be mentored by US students as part of this grant, and international research experience for students.
Jamie Bell
Jamie Bell
Project Director
Thank you, Allan. Sounds like a great opportunity for lots of cross cultural leaning as well, with lots of expertise and assets on both sides of the partnership. Wishing you all the best with next steps and what you will share and learn going forward.
Maya Trotz
Love the connection to Shorecrest and look forward to seeing more videos of the students in Ghana and Tampa connect. When will USF get some goats?
Sarina Ergas
Professor
The goat poop was from a goat yoga farm in Thonotosassa. If we had a student who was able to have some goats, cows and pigs it would be easier to do research on livestock wastes.
John Casebolt
Allan Feldman
Professor
We have plenty of old goats at USF - but so far we haven't used their poop in biodigesters!
Christie Prout
Toby Baker
I really appreciated the collaboration between the U.S. and Ghana! Everyone is working together for a common goal. This product is practical and futuristic. This could shape the the future of waste research.
John Casebolt
Folashade Solomon
Senior Researcher
This project is exciting. I really like seeing how the students are engaging in different aspects of biodigestion. What have been some of the initial successes and challenges you've faced so far in your project? Can you share more about the significance of this work and its potential impact?
Allan Feldman
Professor
We first started this work focusing on biosand filters. We've just published a piece about that for teachers in The Science Teacher: https://www.nsta.org/science-teacher/science-teacher-marchapril-2021/biosand-filters-water-purification
John Casebolt
Liandra Larsen
As a USF alumna, I love seeing this work! Go Team and Go Bulls!
John Casebolt
WOW! this is so inspiring. I teach 5th-grade math and science. We have a pen pal project with some friends in Uganda and my students are interested in access to clean water and sanitation. We will be replicating the sand filter in our classroom next year and I would like to know more about the unit Selen Willis is doing with her students on Water.
This is a great presentation.
Allan Feldman
Professor
Did you see the article about the biosand filter project in The Science Teacher?
John Casebolt
Yes sir. My 5th-graders learn about global water issues. That article has encouraged me to move foward with having next year's students design and build their own water filter system. One of my friends works at our local water treatment facility. Teaching is my second career after 20 years in construction. I helped build three water treatment plants in southeast Missouri back then.
Alternative and renewable energy are another passion of mine. This video and the article have renewed my energy for the coming year.
Thank you all.
Ning Wang
Very meaningful and easy-to-do experiment, thanks for sharing!
John Casebolt
Shane Woods
Senior Director, STEM Center of Excellence
The real world applications and entry points to problem based learning are limitless. Have the students had the chance to apply their learnings to more local issues such as areas devasted by natural disasters? For the students in Ghana, does this lend itself as an opportunity for internships as a possible workforce pipeline?
Jaymus Lee
Thank you for the video and great work, I think that introducing sustainability education early on in a child's education is so important and something I wish I had when I was in school. I think that incorporating varying educational levels into the project is amazing and translating graduate work back into primary education is so important. Thank you for the project information and something we might be looking into for further sustainability work on tribal communities.
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.