Poster: Education & outreach
Abs #
926: A Model Approach to Biotechnology Education: High School Teachers and Students recover Transgenic Plants in Project-Based Learning
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Presenter: |
Hague, Joel P, jarell69@hotmail.com |
Authors | Hague, Joel P (A) Ayrapetov, Marina (A) Budziszek, Michael (A) Chandlee, Joel (A) Derrig, Gabrielle (A) Longo, Chip (A) Neill, Alissa (A) Powell, Jessica (A) Kausch, Albert (A) | | Affiliations: |
(A): University of Rhode Island
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Abstract:
The rapid advances within biotechnology have created an unprecedented educational challenge. Currently there is not a more profound, provocative, and socially relevant topic in science education. Thus, in the second year of this unique two-semester course, high school teachers and students utilized college-level techniques and concepts in two authentic biotechnology research projects. Twenty-six high school students (grades 9-12) and eight mentoring teachers performed cell culture and gene transfer procedures to recover stably transformed rice plants. Student-teacher teams initiated a functional genomics project in Oryza sativa ssp. japonica cv. Nipponbare, producing the initial transgenics required to create a library of randomly dispersed Ds elements in the rice genome. Their second project focused on creating transgenic dwarf rice plants expressing a mutated bas1 construct. The fundamental techniques of plant biotechnology including Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, plant regeneration, photomicroscopy, biolistics, transient expression assays, and molecular analysis were performed. Project-based education provides teachers and students with an excellent exposure to real-world laboratory science. Further, students mentor other high school students in the lab and teach other students the same transformation techniques in four local high schools where we have provided the necessary materials. This project-based approach to biotechnology education offers teachers and students an unforgettable career building experience that is now serving as a model for other high school and vocational programs around the country.
