Contents
- Cover Story
Taking Science on the Road
Cover Story
Taking Science Education on the Road
Traveling laboratories deliver engaging science lessons
to classrooms everywhere.
By Laura Bonetta
High school students onboard Boston University School of Medicine’s MobileLab are hard at work identifying the culprit of a crime. They are using DNA fingerprinting and other molecular biology techniques. Photo by Vivian Ronay Photography.
The crown jewels were stolen from the City Museum. “Once on the scene, I noted that the only window in the room was broken. Officer Ligase approached me and said that there were no prints or any apparent evidence left at the crime scene. However, upon further inspection of the window, my partner, Dee Enae, noticed some blood on the sill…”
“Dee Enae,” a pun on DNA, is the quick-thinking sidekick in this popular science education module for high school students, created by Boston University School of Medicine’s CityLab program. Dee and other characters visit schools around Greater Boston, providing hands-on science lessons that engage students’ imaginations.
“If you want to teach someone to play baseball, you don’t give them a video of someone playing the game,” says Carl Franzblau, associate dean for graduate and biomedical science at Boston University School of Medicine. “You give them a ball and bat.”
To solve the case of the crown jewels, students are given gloves and pipettes to perform DNA restriction analysis, or DNA fingerprinting. They then look for a match between the DNA fingerprint of the blood sample collected at the crime scene and that of one of four suspects. Other modules have the students purifying proteins or diagnosing a disease. (See “Mobile Lab Modules.”)
Connecticut: BioBus Educational Program |
North Carolina: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s DESTINY Program (2 vehicles) |
Mobile labs are located across the United States. There are 12 mobile labs in nine states. Several of these programs—Boston University School of Medicine’s MobileLab (an extension of the CityLab program), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s DESTINY Program, and the University of Texas-Pan American’s Regional Biotech Program—are supported, at least in part, by NCRR.
Franzblau launched the CityLab program in 1992 with funding from an NCRR Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). Initially, the program offered science lessons on the Boston University Medical Campus. But in 1998, CityLab unveiled a 40-foot bus outfitted with state-of-the-art biotechnology equipment that could deliver the lessons directly to students at their schools.
The ensuing demand for the traveling lab inspired the creation of similar programs across the country, many of which use the same lesson plans and materials. Each program quickly became oversubscribed. “The reason mobile labs have been so successful is that people running the programs share all their resources,” says Tony Beck, SEPA program officer at NCRR. “Their first priority is the kids.”
MOBILE LAB MODULES
In The Case of the Crown Jewels, students become forensic scientists who analyze drops of blood found at a crime scene as they determine which suspects are guilty or innocent. It is one of many science modules funded through NCRR’s Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPA) that can be taught “on wheels.” Other SEPA modules, with equally engaging names, include:
In Search of the Body’s Antibodies. Students perform enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to screen fictional patients’ blood samples for HIV (using simulated viral extract). (Created by Boston University’s CityLab.)
Amp Up Your DNA. Students use polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis to amplify and visualize a portion of their own DNA. In particular, students are taught to amplify the Alu insert on chromosome 16. This is a DNA sequence that is repeated hundreds of times in the genome; the number of repeats varies from person to person. (Created by Boston University’s CityLab.)
Nothing Fishy About Evolution. Students isolate muscle proteins from various fictional fish species and analyze them with denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. They then look for a correlation between the properties of the proteins and the evolutionary relatedness of the fish species. (Created by the University of Texas-Pan American’s Regional Biotech Program.)
Weigh to Go! Students explore connections between obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Using chromatography, students purify a protein called leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite. Other activities help students become more aware of the obesity epidemic at global and individual levels. (Created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s DESTINY Program.)
The State We’re In. Students perform a bioassay experiment using the water flea Daphnia, an indicator of ecosystem health, to detect and assess what would be considered a harmful level of a toxic chemical. While discovering the effects of environmental toxins, they gain insight into the interplay between scientific data and human judgment that underlies legislation. (Created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s DESTINY Program.)
The Beat Goes On. Students focus on the cardiovascular system and identify the genetic and environmental factors that influence an individual’s likelihood of developing heart disease. They use EKG sensors to make graphical recordings of their hearts’ electrical events, identify the waveforms produced, and determine the patterns typically associated with them. (Created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s DESTINY Program.)
