Both PASCO and AYVA are committed to doing all that we can to help the science education community. In these uncertain times of school closures and remote learning, we want to ensure that all students and teachers continue to build their science skills and have access to the content they need.
We have been contacted by many educators searching for resources as they navigate the rapidly changing learning environment and transition to online labs. In response, PASCO is extending free resources to support the continuation of science learning despite school closures.
PASCO is producing quick data collection videos and Capstone data files to support educators seeking remote lab opportunities. These files are designed to help educators provide remote students with simulated lab experiences from anywhere. Each college-level lab covers content required by universities and does not require any lab equipment.
Instructors can use Capstone Lab Workbooks to collect data, then share their Workbook and data with students for independent analysis. We recommend sharing a quick video of the data being collected to give students context for their data analysis and post-lab questions. You can check out our prepared Capstone Workbooks with sample data here.
PASCO is producing quick data collection videos and software data files to support educators seeking remote lab opportunities. These home science tools will help integrate video lab experiences into home labs to provide students with a realistic learning opportunity. You can check out our current list of remote labs below.
The PASCO Experiment Library contains dozens of prepared Chemistry labs and activities that can be downloaded and shared with students for free. These prepared files can be modified to fit your needs and provide plenty of opportunity for adding your own content. You can view our existing Chemistry labs here. You can also access the Teacher Resources within the Experiment Library by logging into your PASCO account.
Creating a SPARKvue Shared Session is the easiest and most efficient way to host a home lab for students. With Shared Sessions, students can log into a SPARKvue session hosted by their teacher from anywhere, observe data collection in real time, then keep a copy of the data to perform their own analysis. Setting up a session is quick and easy, and allows students to participate in a home lab using only their smartphone. Once the session is finished and students have completed their analysis, they can digitally submit their work using cloud services or the Journal Snapshot tool.
PASCO is producing quick data collection videos and software data files to support educators seeking remote lab opportunities. These home science tools will help integrate video lab experiences into home labs to provide students with a realistic learning opportunity. You can check out our current list of remote labs below.
The PASCO Experiment Library contains dozens of prepared Biology labs and activities that can be downloaded and shared with students for free. These prepared files can be modified to fit your needs and provide plenty of opportunity for adding your own content. You can view our existing Biology and Life Science labs here.
Creating a SPARKvue Shared Session is the easiest and most efficient way to host a home lab for students. With Shared Sessions, students can log into a SPARKvue session hosted by their teacher from anywhere, observe data collection in real time, then keep a copy of the data to perform their own analysis. Setting up a session is quick and easy, and allows students to participate in a home lab using only their smartphone. Once the session is finished and students have completed their analysis, they can digitally submit their work using cloud services or the Journal Snapshot tool.
We have made Capstone and SPARKvue files with recorded data available to help support science distance learning. You will need either Capstone or SPARKvue to open those data files. Below are installers for Mac and Windows.
You can also install SPARKvue for free on your mobile devices.
PASCO has updated a number of labs to better support distance learning. These lab activities will support remote, at-home learning to help students continue their education during this time. Students watch a short video showing the data collection part of the lab, then perform the analysis using the data provided in the PASCO Capstone or SPARKvue file. The associated student lab handout guides them and is available for free download. Teachers have free access to each lab’s teacher guide after creating an educator account. In the meantime, there are a number of software features that can improve home lab experiences for students, including Capstone’s Video features and SPARKvue’s Shared Sessions.
We recognize that many schools need to provide online instruction for their students, which presents special challenges for science education. In the sciences, remote learning may require students to conduct essential labs at home, without risking their safety and without lab equipment. We want to assist you wherever possible, and encourage you to reach out to us if you require other materials.
Capstone and SPARKvue can be used to improve the authenticity of home labs and remote learning. Both softwares include features that support communication and data sharing, but their specific capabilities differ. The following explanation of Capstone and SPARKvue features can help you decide which software will best support your needs.
1. Capstone is our high-level data collection and analysis software. If your school is already using Capstone, then you have global rights to distribute this software to your students for home installation. At any time, students may download a free, 6-month trial version of Capstone from our website. When the trial version expires, Capstone will request the code that was given to your school. You may share this code freely with students to convert the trial version of Capstone to the permanent version.
2. Sharing data with students is as easy as doing the lab yourself and saving the Capstone file. Once saved, you can share it with your students through email.
3. Conducting the lab yourself can be quick and easy. When you are done, simply save and share the data. If you need assistance conducting a lab, the PASCO Video Library has hundreds of instructional videos to help you conduct labs for any subject.
4. Showing students how a dataset was collected is essential to their understanding of concepts and data analysis. To accomplish this, we recommend including a quick video of the data being collected with the Capstone data file. We recommend three possible methods for this:
A. With Capstone, you can easily create a video of the data collection process. This requires an easy setup that shows students what they would see as they follow the steps in the lab. Students may open the saved data file while watching a video of the experiment to simulate an authentic lab experience. After viewing the video, students can continue to follow the lab instructions for analysis, before digitally submitting it to the instructor for evaluation.
B. PASCO also offers prepared Capstone Lab Workbooks with instructions for conducting the lab within Capstone. Instructors may use these Workbooks to collect data, then share the Workbook and data with students for analysis. To provide context, a quick video of how the data was collected would be necessary (similar to the video produced in suggestion A). You can find prepared Capstone Workbooks here.
C. PASCO is producing quick data collection videos and Capstone data files to support educators seeking remote lab opportunities. These files are designed to help educators provide remote students with simulated lab experiences from any location. Each college-level lab covers content required by universities and does not require any lab equipment.
1. SPARKvue is our cross-platform data collection and analysis software. It runs on smartphones, desktops, laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, and iPads, making it ideal for students to use with any home device. If your school is already using SPARKvue, then you have global rights to distribute this software to your students for home installation. At any time, students may download a free, 6-month trial version of SPARKvue from our website. When the trial version expires, SPARKvue will request the code that was given to your school. Students may also download the SPARKvue App for free on their smartphones, iPads, or tablets at any time.
2. Creating a SPARKvue Shared Session is the easiest and most efficient way to host a home lab for students. With Shared Sessions, students can log into a SPARKvue session hosted by their teacher from anywhere, observe data collection in real time, then keep a copy of the data to perform their own analysis. Setting up a session is quick and easy and allows students to participate in a home lab using just their smartphone. Once the session is finished and students have completed their analysis, they can digitally submit their work using cloud services or the Journal Snapshot tool.
3. SPARKlabs allow you to create, modify, and share digital labs within SPARKvue. You can download free SPARKlabs from our website and modify them to fit your lessons, or you can create your own SPARKlab, complete with background information, instructions, tables, graphics, and more. Creating SPARKlabs is intuitive and exporting them to students is quick. After students have completed the SPARKlab and their analysis, they can digitally submit their work for review. You can download prepared SPARKvue files here.
4. We are in the process of restructuring SPARKvue labs to better support remote learning and home labs. Our Curriculum team will be adapting and adding activities for remote learning to the PASCO Experiment Library throughout the school closures. In the meantime, you may download and edit activities from the PASCO Experiment Library to support your learning goals.
5. While SPARKvue does not support video sharing, we suggest recording a video of an experiment with your smartphone. Sharing a recorded video of an experiment helps students form connections between the lab and the learning concept. For example, you could host a Shared Session with students, while recording or streaming a video of the experiment. After the session has ended, students can use a copy of the dataset and the video recording to complete their analysis and post-lab questions.
A big thanks for all the help and support you provided – I want to take some time to say a big thanks for all the help and support you provided me to select the best equipment in order to make the best possible use of the funds available. It is really exceptional that you happily connected with me multiple times even during the weekend and was always motivated to help. Please accept my big thanks for this.
Gurpreet Sidhu | Physics Instructor | University College of North | The Pas, MB
Wireless Spectrometer Big Hit With Students – PASCO’s wireless spectrometer has been utilized very well by our earth science and physical science teachers. It’s an excellent piece of equipment and we have very much enjoyed its addition to enriching our classroom. It definitely brings students to a higher level of understanding wave interaction at a molecular level.
Matt Tumbach | Secondary Instructional Technology Leader | Tommy Douglas Collegiate | Saskatoon, SK
Excellent Smart Cart – I thought the cart was excellent. The quick sampling rate for force will be very useful for momentum and collision labs we do. I’m recommending we include this in our order for next school year.
Reed Jeffrey | Science Department Head | Upper Canada College | Toronto ON
Your lab equipment is of the highest quality and technical support is always there to help. During the 25 years we have used a wide array of lab equipment including computer interfacing. Your Pasco line has a high profile in our lab and will continue to do so far into the future.
Bob Chin | Lab Technician | Kwantlen Polytechnic University | Surrey, BC
Datalogging Activities are Cross-Curricular
Throughout the province of Nova Scotia, PASCO’s probeware technology has been merged with the rollout of the new P-6 curriculum. We chose a number of sensors for use with our project-based activities. Both the functionality and mobility of PASCO’s dataloggers enable students to collect authentic, real-world data, test their hypotheses and build knowledge.
Mark Richards | Technology Integration Consultant | Annapolis Valley R.S.B. | Nova Scotia
We have a large number of PASCO wireless spectrometers and love how they have improved the learning experience for our students.
Shawn McFadden | Technical Specialist | Ryerson University | Toronto, Ontario
During distance learning due to COVID-19 school shut down, I was given a short window to collect what I could from my classroom to teach online. The PASCO wireless sensors and Smart Carts were my top priority to collect to implement distance learning. By sharing experimental data with students via SPARKVue, the sensors were pivotal in creating an online experience that still allowed students to grow with their lab skills. It was easy to record videos of the data collection and share the data with my students. They did a phenomenal job examining and interpreting the data.
Michelle Brosseau | Physics Teacher | Ursuline College Chatham | Chatham, Ontario
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I have taught grade 9 applied science, science and technology, grade 10 applied, regular and enriched science, grade 11 chemistry and physics for 33 years at Westwood Senior High School in Hudson Québec. I discovered the PASCO equipment in 2019 and it completely changed my life. I love to discover, produce experiments and share discoveries. I am looking forward to work with your team.
Having graduated with a major in Computer Science and minors in Physics and Mathematics, I began my teaching career at Killarney Collegiate Institute in Killarney, Manitoba in 2009. While teaching Physics there, I decided to invest in PASCO products and approached the Killarney Foundation with a proposal about funding the Physics lab with the SPARK Science Learning System and sensors. While there I also started a tremendously successful new course that gave students the ability to explore their interests in science and consisted of students completing one project a month, two of which were to be hands-on experiments, two of which were to be research based, and the final being up to the student.
In 2011 I moved back to Brandon, Manitoba and started working at the school I had graduated from, Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School. In 2018 I finally had the opportunity to once again teach Physics and have been working hard to build the program. Being in the vocational school for the region has led to many opportunities to collaborate with our Electronics, Design Drafting, Welding, and Photography departments on highly engaging inter-disciplinary projects. I believe very strongly in showing students what Physics can look like and build lots of demonstrations and experiments for my classes to use, including a Reuben’s tube, an electromagnetic ring launcher, and Schlieren optics setup, just to name a few that have become fan favourites among the students in our building. At the end of my first year teaching Physics at Crocus Plains I applied for CERN’s International High School Teacher Programme and became the first Canadian selected through direct entry in the 21 years of the program. This incredible opportunity gave me the opportunity to learn from scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider and from CERN’s educational outreach team at the S’Cool Lab. Following this, I returned to Canada and began working with the Perimeter Institute, becoming part of their Teacher Network.
These experiences and being part of professional development workshops with the AAPT and the Canadian Light Source (CLS) this summer has given me the opportunity to speak to many Physics educators around the world to gain new insights into how my classroom evolves. As I work to build our program, I am exploring new ideas that see students take an active role in their learning, more inter-disciplinary work with departments in our school, the development of a STEM For Girls program in our building, and organizing participation in challenges from the ESA, the Students on the Beamline program from CLS, and our local science fair.
Though I graduated with a BEd qualified to teach English and Social Studies, it just wasn’t meant to be. My first job was teaching technology courses at a local high school, a far cry from the English and Social Studies job I had envisioned myself in. I was lucky enough to stay in that position for over ten years, teaching various technology courses in grades 10-12, while also obtaining a Master of Education in Technology Integration and a Master of Education in Online Instructional Media.
You will notice what is absent from my bio is any background in science. In fact, I took the minimum amount of required science courses to graduate high school. Three years ago I switched roles and currently work as a Technology Integration Leader; supporting teachers with integrating technology into their pedagogy in connection with the provincial outcomes. All of our schools have PASCO sensors at some level (mostly grades 4-12) and I made it my professional goal to not only learn how to use them, but to find ways to make them more approachable for teachers with no formal science background (like me!). Having no background or training in science has allowed me to experience a renewed love of Science, making it easier for me to support teachers in learning how to use PASCO sensors in their classrooms. I wholeheartedly believe that if more teachers could see just how easy they are to use, the more they will use them in the classroom and I’ve made it my goal to do exactly that.
I enjoy coming up with out-of-the-box ways of using the sensors, including finding curriculum connections within subjects outside of the typical science realm. I have found that hands on activities with immediate feedback, which PASCO sensors provide, help students and teachers see the benefits of technology in the classroom and will help more students foster a love of science and STEAM learning.