April 26, 2024 • 14 mins
With the financial assistance of a grant, and its connections to high learning, the two South Milwaukee High School teachers and their students are teaming up to do real research on microplastics in water.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the SMWay Podcast. I'm your host, Daniel Bader. When I was in high school biology,
(00:06):
we did some neat labs. One memory I have is being able to dissect various animals, starting
with the largest earthworm I'd ever seen, then to a grasshopper, again the largest I'd
ever seen, and finally at the end of the unit, a more or less normal sized frog. While that
was really interesting, it was pretty boilerplate for high school, right? What turned me off
(00:26):
from these experiments and later from labs and chemistry and physics is the very real
sense that nothing new was being discovered. We were repeating proven science to practice
technique and, I suppose, validate the findings ourselves. That will not be the experience
for science teacher Dan Lesniak's AP Environmental Studies students or career and technology
(00:47):
teacher Ben Quartemont's Intro to Tech students. With the financial assistance of a grant and
its connections to higher learning, the two teachers and their students are teaming up
to do real research on microplastics and water. Let's hear from these two teachers.
Well, Dan Lesniak and Ben Quartemont, welcome to the SMWay Podcast.
(01:09):
Thank you.
Thank you.
So tell me, what is it you're studying and how did you guys come to find that grant?
And tell me about how we got here. Who wants to go first?
I can actually. So we actually found out about this through Corey Moran, who also teaches
here at the high school. She had been involved in the grant through UWM for several years.
(01:33):
And I believe there was a lag time between the last opportunity and what she had done
the year before. She came to me about her research where she was doing indoor air quality,
and that was a unit in my environmental science class that was lacking for good lab materials.
So I worked with her on that. I decided to buy a bunch more sensors. We collaborated
(01:53):
and then I decided, hey, if I can make this work, I will. I have kids at home, so when
they have the summertime, they said, I asked, well, can I be from home three days a week
and come in twice when my wife's at home? They said, sure. So then I got involved. She
also got Ben involved. She got Allison Landwehr involved. And so Corey and Allison did lead
(02:16):
this year in water, which is another really cool venture, very important, even in the
wake of the Flint situation and whatnot. But yeah, with us, we came across a number of
topics and then finally we said, let's do microplastics. And the professors were supportive.
It looked initially like we weren't going to be able to do a darn thing. And they said,
(02:37):
no, no, let's work through these barriers. And I'm glad they encouraged us. Tell me what's
the actual name of the grant and what's who's the through and what's it for? Well, the
grant, it's called RET, Research Experience for Teachers, and it was the National Science
Foundation that came up with the money for it. And so anyways, they'd been doing them
(02:57):
for a number of years and I always thought it was prohibitive because of my kids, but
this year I was able to work it in. And the professors, it's Ilya Avdeev and Craig Berg
at UWM. And they were so accommodating, wonderful, and they really made this happen for us and
the others doing their own research. So Mr. Quartemont, how did you get involved in this?
(03:18):
You are our technology teacher. Tell me about your angle on this. So I wanted to introduce
microplastics in the Intro to Technology Education piece. I like to work sort of intermantly
with a lot of the different curriculum. I have a math and science background, so I figured
it was a good way to introduce some different engineering aspects to my Intro to Technology
(03:42):
and Engineering students. We have a design unit where students are given constraints
and have to work around new problems. And microplastics, I thought, were going to be
a large-scale issue in the next 10, 15 years or even right now. So having them design a
future city around microplastics and knowing how we pollute our environment and how we
(04:03):
can recycle and take care of ourselves, I thought, was a good incorporation in addition
to what Mr. Lesniak is doing. So I guess I have an understanding of what microplastics
are, but can you tell me what they are, actually what you're testing for in water? For sure.
So microplastics occur in water, specifically when the sun essentially degrades the plastic
(04:26):
around them. So previously in a lot of like face moisturizers, there were little plastic
pellets and they would end up all throughout the ocean. They would be commonly seen in
dead fish. You would literally cut open the fish and you would see the little microbeads,
which were banned several years ago now. So these plastics, we don't know how they react
(04:46):
because there's just so much going on. The ocean is essentially a soup of a lot of chemicals.
So there's lots of different reactions that are happening there and we don't necessarily
know all of the effects of what these plastics are doing long-term. So seeing how pervasive
they are throughout our environment is very, very important for us. So are you testing
tap water or are you going over to the lake or Oak Creek? Where is the water coming from
(05:11):
that you're testing? It will be quite a variety of sources. And just going back to Ben's point,
yeah, I mean, pretty much microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment and we're finding
it in the deepest parts of the oceans, in the Arctic, mountain tops, you name it, in the
air. We're actually breathing in the particles. And so with having them everywhere, we are
going to focus on water, even though it goes far beyond that. And we're going to do a variety
(05:36):
of sources. We're going to use our local stream, Oak Creek. We're going to use our water from
the school. We're going to allow kids to bring water samples from home to test. And we also,
through the grant, we're able to get a variety of common filter pitchers, some of the more
common names, as well as some of the not so well-known ones that are kind of the high-end,
(05:58):
which do really high-level filtration. And we're going to test those as well just to
see what kind of maybe immediate solutions we have for those who are concerned about
this.
Sure. You know, the grant title is teachers, right? But you're including your students
in this. How are they going to work on this?
Yeah, I can go on that first because I know Ben's window of time will be in the fall again.
(06:22):
He missed it because we didn't have the equipment coming in on time. But yeah, I'm going to
first start with the AP Environmental students. And after their exam, a group of them, if
they choose to, well, I know some are excited about it, but they are going to start by looking
at the research that we looked at. They're going to look at the equipment we have. And
(06:43):
they're going to have to work on protocols just like the professors that we've spoken
to have done. And we're just going to let them really explore. It's going to be very
much inquiry based. There's obviously a lot of things in place, but they're really going
to have to figure out how best to tackle this problem. And it's going to be pretty exciting
to work with them.
How about in your classes, Ben? What's the equipment and how are you going to use it?
(07:09):
So we're going to be using the microscope to look at the predominance of plastic and
all sorts of different water sources. And based off that information, I want to make
kids to design around that ways we can reduce our plastic usage and ultimately design the
sort of future city around, hey, how can we optimize our plastic usage and how can we
(07:33):
reduce the total amount that we're actually affecting the environment overall in the long
term. So it's a little more fluid and a little less hard science because I am dealing with
freshmen. There's a difference between a freshman and an AP environmental student, which is
fine. But to get them sort of exposed to that area and sort of the overlaps between science
(07:55):
and engineering.
Sure. And how about you? What's the end result for you? Is it just reporting back the data
or is it coming up with solutions?
I think it's going to be a combination. You know, the AP students are in environmental
are initially doing it. We're going to make sure that all the regular environmental science
students do it as well. And we're going to be reporting out results regularly as much
(08:17):
as we can to the community, South Milwaukee and even beyond as much as we are able. And
also to encourage possibly other educators and other groups to do the same type of research
on our local ecosystems and our local water systems just to figure out how we can best
avoid this. Because as Ben mentioned, you know, there's a lot of microplastic pieces
(08:40):
that are out there. And the reality is so many of them are slightly modified molecules
based on what the specific purpose of the plastic is. And so there are so many different
things out there. There is some research that has been done about long term chronic or organ
effects on birds and some other species. And this, I believe, is just the tip of the iceberg
(09:00):
in terms of research.
So what's the what's the advantage to you as an educator to participate in research
like this?
Well there's probably a couple of things. One, it keeps me fresh. I mean, I think that,
you know, that's evidenced by my having created an AP environmental science class in my 30th
(09:20):
year of teaching. Being fresh is helpful to me, gives energy for me to share with the
students. And then as far as the actual research itself, we're always wanting the kids to be
exposed to the real world, making that world actually like us be part of the world and
bringing the world to us. And then sure enough, there it is where we've got microplastics,
(09:42):
which as I said, are ubiquitous. So we might as well engage in something that's meaningful.
And if the kids feel like they're in at the, I don't know if cutting heads is the right
word, but at the start of something big in terms of knowing what the significance of
all these microplastics are, that's definitely more engaging for them. They really feel like
(10:03):
they're a part of something that's meaningful and not just rote work because it's, hey,
I have to do this to learn the next thing. It's really engaging and really important.
In your experience, what's the awareness of students of issues like microplastics and
water?
Well, you know, it really varies by issue I've discovered. There are some things that they
(10:28):
know less about than I as an educator believe that they should, but there are some things
that there's a good amount of knowledge about. And microplastics is there, but you know,
with social media, granted, I choose not to participate personally in social media because
I've just been busy enough, but in terms of social media, I guess I get enough news fades
(10:50):
that kind of indicate what kinds of things are out there. And microplastics is something
that is becoming more commonly talked about in various social media, and which is great
because at least in certain ways, social media is becoming really useful in terms of helping
the kids understand, again, those real world issues that we need to pay attention to.
Sure. And I guess most of those things on social media are kind of emotional appeals,
(11:13):
right? So they'll tell you why it's wrong or why we should pay attention, maybe not
necessarily the scientific details of something, but that at least it clues them into why,
at least from a source that they may, I don't want to say trust, but find affiliation with
that this is something that's an issue, right? And then here comes Mr. Lesniak to tell them,
(11:36):
hey, we're actually studying these things and we're going to learn about them and see
them in the water. Sorry, you were going to say?
Yeah, I just had a thought about that because in terms of environmental education, when
they kind of look at the levels, they always have this, what is it, the hands, hearts,
heads approach where the idea is that grade school kids, it should be hands-on, experiential,
(12:00):
getting out there and just becoming aware of their environment. And then the hearts
is more of the middle school level where they start to make that emotional connection to
what really they value. And then the heads part is high school where they start to say,
okay, now that we've got this, what are we going to do analytically to find out what
the nature of the problem is and then what can we do about it?
(12:23):
So I know you're just starting to talk to your students about participating in this,
but what have some of their questions been?
Well we've actually had only brief discussions because of course I've really been putting
so much time in with the AP students. I don't know if there have been a lot of questions
so much as acknowledgement along the way that they're aware of the issues and that they're
(12:45):
very interested in pursuing it.
Interesting. And then we talked a little bit off mic about maybe starting to involve maybe
the city or talking to water officials down there who deal with this stuff every day.
Yeah, that would be a great idea. We've got standards that they're trying to introduce
(13:07):
at the federal level with the EPA. We just got news on that the other day. And then of
course when we're dealing specifically with the issue of microplastics, we start with
the community and let's engage with health, let's engage with anybody, our water treatment
facility and figure out what we're doing so far and what maybe we could do further going
forward.
(13:31):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. I'm looking forward to a future episode where
we meet some of those students and see what they thought about engaging in practical science
and contributing to the greater knowledge about microplastics. Thanks to Dan Lesniak
and Ben Quartemont for sharing their time outside of classroom. I'm sure you heard some
of the ambient noise of the high school behind me. It's great to get on location for some
(13:55):
of our recordings. Those sounds do creep in. This is our 20th episode of the season. We
have at least two more before the school year is out. With that milestone, I want to say
thank you to our regular listeners and we will see you next time.
Welcome to the SMWay Podcast. I'm your host, Daniel Bader. When I was in high school biology,
(00:06):
we did some neat labs. One memory I have is being able to dissect various animals, starting
with the largest earthworm I'd ever seen, then to a grasshopper, again the largest I'd
ever seen, and finally at the end of the unit, a more or less normal sized frog. While that
was really interesting, it was pretty boilerplate for high school, right? What turned me off
(00:26):
from these experiments and later from labs and chemistry and physics is the very real
sense that nothing new was being discovered. We were repeating proven science to practice
technique and, I suppose, validate the findings ourselves. That will not be the experience
for science teacher Dan Lesniak's AP Environmental Studies students or career and technology
(00:47):
teacher Ben Quartemont's Intro to Tech students. With the financial assistance of a grant and
its connections to higher learning, the two teachers and their students are teaming up
to do real research on microplastics and water. Let's hear from these two teachers.
Well, Dan Lesniak and Ben Quartemont, welcome to the SMWay Podcast.
(01:09):
Thank you.
Thank you.
So tell me, what is it you're studying and how did you guys come to find that grant?
And tell me about how we got here. Who wants to go first?
I can actually. So we actually found out about this through Corey Moran, who also teaches
here at the high school. She had been involved in the grant through UWM for several years.
(01:33):
And I believe there was a lag time between the last opportunity and what she had done
the year before. She came to me about her research where she was doing indoor air quality,
and that was a unit in my environmental science class that was lacking for good lab materials.
So I worked with her on that. I decided to buy a bunch more sensors. We collaborated
(01:53):
and then I decided, hey, if I can make this work, I will. I have kids at home, so when
they have the summertime, they said, I asked, well, can I be from home three days a week
and come in twice when my wife's at home? They said, sure. So then I got involved. She
also got Ben involved. She got Allison Landwehr involved. And so Corey and Allison did lead
(02:16):
this year in water, which is another really cool venture, very important, even in the
wake of the Flint situation and whatnot. But yeah, with us, we came across a number of
topics and then finally we said, let's do microplastics. And the professors were supportive.
It looked initially like we weren't going to be able to do a darn thing. And they said,
(02:37):
no, no, let's work through these barriers. And I'm glad they encouraged us. Tell me what's
the actual name of the grant and what's who's the through and what's it for? Well, the
grant, it's called RET, Research Experience for Teachers, and it was the National Science
Foundation that came up with the money for it. And so anyways, they'd been doing them
(02:57):
for a number of years and I always thought it was prohibitive because of my kids, but
this year I was able to work it in. And the professors, it's Ilya Avdeev and Craig Berg
at UWM. And they were so accommodating, wonderful, and they really made this happen for us and
the others doing their own research. So Mr. Quartemont, how did you get involved in this?
(03:18):
You are our technology teacher. Tell me about your angle on this. So I wanted to introduce
microplastics in the Intro to Technology Education piece. I like to work sort of intermantly
with a lot of the different curriculum. I have a math and science background, so I figured
it was a good way to introduce some different engineering aspects to my Intro to Technology
(03:42):
and Engineering students. We have a design unit where students are given constraints
and have to work around new problems. And microplastics, I thought, were going to be
a large-scale issue in the next 10, 15 years or even right now. So having them design a
future city around microplastics and knowing how we pollute our environment and how we
(04:03):
can recycle and take care of ourselves, I thought, was a good incorporation in addition
to what Mr. Lesniak is doing. So I guess I have an understanding of what microplastics
are, but can you tell me what they are, actually what you're testing for in water? For sure.
So microplastics occur in water, specifically when the sun essentially degrades the plastic
(04:26):
around them. So previously in a lot of like face moisturizers, there were little plastic
pellets and they would end up all throughout the ocean. They would be commonly seen in
dead fish. You would literally cut open the fish and you would see the little microbeads,
which were banned several years ago now. So these plastics, we don't know how they react
(04:46):
because there's just so much going on. The ocean is essentially a soup of a lot of chemicals.
So there's lots of different reactions that are happening there and we don't necessarily
know all of the effects of what these plastics are doing long-term. So seeing how pervasive
they are throughout our environment is very, very important for us. So are you testing
tap water or are you going over to the lake or Oak Creek? Where is the water coming from
(05:11):
that you're testing? It will be quite a variety of sources. And just going back to Ben's point,
yeah, I mean, pretty much microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment and we're finding
it in the deepest parts of the oceans, in the Arctic, mountain tops, you name it, in the
air. We're actually breathing in the particles. And so with having them everywhere, we are
going to focus on water, even though it goes far beyond that. And we're going to do a variety
(05:36):
of sources. We're going to use our local stream, Oak Creek. We're going to use our water from
the school. We're going to allow kids to bring water samples from home to test. And we also,
through the grant, we're able to get a variety of common filter pitchers, some of the more
common names, as well as some of the not so well-known ones that are kind of the high-end,
(05:58):
which do really high-level filtration. And we're going to test those as well just to
see what kind of maybe immediate solutions we have for those who are concerned about
this.
Sure. You know, the grant title is teachers, right? But you're including your students
in this. How are they going to work on this?
Yeah, I can go on that first because I know Ben's window of time will be in the fall again.
(06:22):
He missed it because we didn't have the equipment coming in on time. But yeah, I'm going to
first start with the AP Environmental students. And after their exam, a group of them, if
they choose to, well, I know some are excited about it, but they are going to start by looking
at the research that we looked at. They're going to look at the equipment we have. And
(06:43):
they're going to have to work on protocols just like the professors that we've spoken
to have done. And we're just going to let them really explore. It's going to be very
much inquiry based. There's obviously a lot of things in place, but they're really going
to have to figure out how best to tackle this problem. And it's going to be pretty exciting
to work with them.
How about in your classes, Ben? What's the equipment and how are you going to use it?
(07:09):
So we're going to be using the microscope to look at the predominance of plastic and
all sorts of different water sources. And based off that information, I want to make
kids to design around that ways we can reduce our plastic usage and ultimately design the
sort of future city around, hey, how can we optimize our plastic usage and how can we
(07:33):
reduce the total amount that we're actually affecting the environment overall in the long
term. So it's a little more fluid and a little less hard science because I am dealing with
freshmen. There's a difference between a freshman and an AP environmental student, which is
fine. But to get them sort of exposed to that area and sort of the overlaps between science
(07:55):
and engineering.
Sure. And how about you? What's the end result for you? Is it just reporting back the data
or is it coming up with solutions?
I think it's going to be a combination. You know, the AP students are in environmental
are initially doing it. We're going to make sure that all the regular environmental science
students do it as well. And we're going to be reporting out results regularly as much
(08:17):
as we can to the community, South Milwaukee and even beyond as much as we are able. And
also to encourage possibly other educators and other groups to do the same type of research
on our local ecosystems and our local water systems just to figure out how we can best
avoid this. Because as Ben mentioned, you know, there's a lot of microplastic pieces
(08:40):
that are out there. And the reality is so many of them are slightly modified molecules
based on what the specific purpose of the plastic is. And so there are so many different
things out there. There is some research that has been done about long term chronic or organ
effects on birds and some other species. And this, I believe, is just the tip of the iceberg
(09:00):
in terms of research.
So what's the what's the advantage to you as an educator to participate in research
like this?
Well there's probably a couple of things. One, it keeps me fresh. I mean, I think that,
you know, that's evidenced by my having created an AP environmental science class in my 30th
(09:20):
year of teaching. Being fresh is helpful to me, gives energy for me to share with the
students. And then as far as the actual research itself, we're always wanting the kids to be
exposed to the real world, making that world actually like us be part of the world and
bringing the world to us. And then sure enough, there it is where we've got microplastics,
(09:42):
which as I said, are ubiquitous. So we might as well engage in something that's meaningful.
And if the kids feel like they're in at the, I don't know if cutting heads is the right
word, but at the start of something big in terms of knowing what the significance of
all these microplastics are, that's definitely more engaging for them. They really feel like
(10:03):
they're a part of something that's meaningful and not just rote work because it's, hey,
I have to do this to learn the next thing. It's really engaging and really important.
In your experience, what's the awareness of students of issues like microplastics and
water?
Well, you know, it really varies by issue I've discovered. There are some things that they
(10:28):
know less about than I as an educator believe that they should, but there are some things
that there's a good amount of knowledge about. And microplastics is there, but you know,
with social media, granted, I choose not to participate personally in social media because
I've just been busy enough, but in terms of social media, I guess I get enough news fades
(10:50):
that kind of indicate what kinds of things are out there. And microplastics is something
that is becoming more commonly talked about in various social media, and which is great
because at least in certain ways, social media is becoming really useful in terms of helping
the kids understand, again, those real world issues that we need to pay attention to.
Sure. And I guess most of those things on social media are kind of emotional appeals,
(11:13):
right? So they'll tell you why it's wrong or why we should pay attention, maybe not
necessarily the scientific details of something, but that at least it clues them into why,
at least from a source that they may, I don't want to say trust, but find affiliation with
that this is something that's an issue, right? And then here comes Mr. Lesniak to tell them,
(11:36):
hey, we're actually studying these things and we're going to learn about them and see
them in the water. Sorry, you were going to say?
Yeah, I just had a thought about that because in terms of environmental education, when
they kind of look at the levels, they always have this, what is it, the hands, hearts,
heads approach where the idea is that grade school kids, it should be hands-on, experiential,
(12:00):
getting out there and just becoming aware of their environment. And then the hearts
is more of the middle school level where they start to make that emotional connection to
what really they value. And then the heads part is high school where they start to say,
okay, now that we've got this, what are we going to do analytically to find out what
the nature of the problem is and then what can we do about it?
(12:23):
So I know you're just starting to talk to your students about participating in this,
but what have some of their questions been?
Well we've actually had only brief discussions because of course I've really been putting
so much time in with the AP students. I don't know if there have been a lot of questions
so much as acknowledgement along the way that they're aware of the issues and that they're
(12:45):
very interested in pursuing it.
Interesting. And then we talked a little bit off mic about maybe starting to involve maybe
the city or talking to water officials down there who deal with this stuff every day.
Yeah, that would be a great idea. We've got standards that they're trying to introduce
(13:07):
at the federal level with the EPA. We just got news on that the other day. And then of
course when we're dealing specifically with the issue of microplastics, we start with
the community and let's engage with health, let's engage with anybody, our water treatment
facility and figure out what we're doing so far and what maybe we could do further going
forward.
(13:31):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. I'm looking forward to a future episode where
we meet some of those students and see what they thought about engaging in practical science
and contributing to the greater knowledge about microplastics. Thanks to Dan Lesniak
and Ben Quartemont for sharing their time outside of classroom. I'm sure you heard some
of the ambient noise of the high school behind me. It's great to get on location for some
(13:55):
of our recordings. Those sounds do creep in. This is our 20th episode of the season. We
have at least two more before the school year is out. With that milestone, I want to say
thank you to our regular listeners and we will see you next time.
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