Secondary Science
Educator Workshops
Summer 1999
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May 3 - 14
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Led by Ms. Carolyn "Britt" Hammond
June 14 - 25
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Led by Dr. Sue Bowden
June 21 - July 2
North Carolina Central University
Led by Dr. Goldie Byrd
June 21 - July 2
Fayetteville State University
Led by Dr. Valeria Fleming
July 6 - 16
Elizabeth City State University
Led by Dr. Gary Harmon
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During this summer's workshops, PMABS will train 30 of North Carolina's secondary school science teachers in the Boston University School of Medicine's CityLab curriculum, an inquiry-based series of modules couched in a mystery or puzzle format in order to be relevant and engaging to students:
Mystery of the Crooked Cell: While determining whether
hypothetical patients have normal blood cells, sickle cell trait, or
sickle cell anemia, students discover the molecular basis of sickle cell
anemia and learn to use electrophoresis as a diagnostic tool to
differentiate sickle cell from normal hemoglobin.
The Case of the Crown Jewels: Students become sleuths who use DNA
restriction analysis (popularly known as DNA fingerprinting) to analyze a
drop of "blood" found at the scene of a robbery as they determine which of
a number of suspects may have committed the crime.
In Search of the Body's Antibodies: Using a simulated viral
extract, students perform an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay to screen
hypothetical patients for the presence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
The Crucial Concentration: Taking on the role of laboratory
investigators for a court case concerning the compositions of three sports
drinks, students develop skills with micropipettes and the
spectrophotometer as they use protein quantitation to determine the drinks' contents.
Will a Little Dab Do You?: After students each donate a minuscule
sample of cheek tissue, they use the polymerase chain reaction to amplify the DNA from a randomly selected sample to identify the "mystery person" from their group, learning how trace amounts of DNA are used by forensic scientists to identify a person.
Entangled in the Web: Current attempts to synthesize spider silk
for industrial purposes using bacterial transformation lead students to perform their own plasmid insertion of a target gene for ampicillin resistance into E. coli.
