Eighth-Graders Uncover Possible Link to School Mold

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Press Release Source: iScienceProject

Eighth-Graders Uncover Possible Link to School Mold

Tuesday October 11, 2:21 pm ET

http://biz./bw/051011/115995.html?.v=1

BOURNE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2005--What started out as

an eighth-grade science experiment at a Chesapeake, VA, school

turned into an alarming discovery: turning down the school air

conditioning system during nights and weekends was creating

conditions suitable for mold growth in dozens of classrooms.

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A group of eighth-grade students at the Great Bridge Middle School

caught the attention of school officials recently by establishing a

link between HVAC system usage, classroom humidity levels, and mold

growth. The students recorded temperature and humidity in 30

individual classrooms throughout the school using data loggers, and

used accompanying software to generate time-stamped graphs that

compared humidity levels during and after normal school hours.

" About half the square footage of our school is newly remodeled, and

moisture doesn't seem to escape as well as it does in the old

building, " said science teacher Sawyer, who led the

project. " There was visible mold growth on some of the classroom

walls. So, while the students were tracking temperature and humidity

levels, they took mold culture samples from the rooms and kept track

of growth rates in Petri dishes.

The students were surprised to learn that the changes in the

humidity from day to night, and from school days to weekends, were

dramatic. The readings fluctuated from the low 30% range to over 60%

on nights and weekends, and within a few weeks some of the mold

samples had grown to 90% coverage of the Petri dishes. "

Sawyer said the experiment, conducted as part of an K-12 energy

contest sponsored by Massachusetts-based iScienceProject, was

originally designed to look at the efficiency of the school's HVAC

equipment using HOBO® data logger kits loaned out by the company.

The idea to investigate the link between HVAC system usage and mold

growth came in the wake of staff complaints about breathing

difficulties.

" A few of our older staff members, who never had any breathing

problems in the old building, all of a sudden were having issues in

the new building, " Sawyer said.

While there was no way to directly link mold growth to the

complaints, Sawyer and his students were able to collect irrefutable

evidence of a high-humidity problem during school off-hours. Sawyer

said that district officials have responded to the experimental

findings and are investigating the cause of the mold growth.

He added, " My students had the opportunity to conduct a scientific

investigation of a problem in their own school, and because of their

efforts, they have a chance here to make a positive impact on their

own environment. "

ABOUT ISCIENCEPROJECT

IScienceProject, a division of Onset Computer Corporation, offers

free loans of HOBO data loggers to K-12 teachers in the U.S., and an

exciting, interactive web site where students and teachers can

download over 100 free classroom labs, and participate in contests.

Please visit http://www.iscienceproject.com for more details.

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Contact:

iScienceProject

Evan Lubofsky, Public Relations Manager, 508-743-3181

evan@...

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Source: iScienceProject