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This project is a professional development program to enable teachers to deliver hands-on, inquiry-based experiments in genetics and biotechnology. A close collaboration between the Dolan DNA Learning Center (DNALC) of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the New York City Department of Education (DOE), the program will develop a strong base of teachers to introduce key experiments in required science courses. It focuses on the 8th and 9th grade levels, where all students receive their first in-depth exposure to genetics and biotechnology, and will reach 820 teachers over five years.
The program addresses stagnating student performance by coordinating with the implementation of NYC's Scope and Sequence for Science and federal science testing mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. It is in synch with NYC's existing base of biological and clinical research, and the NYC Bioscience Initiative, which is leading development of a bioscience research park. The program also acknowledges NYC's unique place in the history of modern biology by emphasizing landmark experiments done here.
Over the past 20 years, the DNALC has 1) pioneered lab- and computer-based curricula in genetics for precollege students, 2) provided intensive training for thousands of teachers at sites world wide, and 3) offered laboratory instruction for a quarter million students on Long Island. However, the DNALC has had limited interaction with NYC schools. The revitalization of NYC public schools under Chancellor Joel Klein, and his objective to make biotechnology a major theme of science instruction, offer an opportunity to extend DNALC's expertise in genetics instruction to NYC students and teachers. DNALC staff have worked closely with the DOE Science Task Force and Biotechnology Steering Committee, which has helped crystallize plans for implementing DOE's Scope and Sequence initiative.
The program will be guided by a Working Group of DNALC and DOE staff, four Teacher Fellows, and a group of advisors with experience in biological research, teacher professional development, and lab kit development. During Year 1, the Working Group will use the DNALC's existing curriculum base to develop a set of targeted labs that integrate key concepts and process skills of DOE's Scope and Sequence, New York State's Science Core Curriculum, and the National Science Education Standards. The Working Group will develop six footlockers and supply/reagent kits needed to implement the targeted labs. The targeted labs, footlockers, and kits will be piloted with twenty 8th and 9th grade teachers in the spring. Each targeted lab will be supported by an online Lab Center - a mini-website including animations, interviews, class results, follow-up activities, and projects - as well as tools for teachers to create customized homepages, lesson plans, and multimedia presentations. During Years 2-5, 10 cohorts of 20 teachers per year will receive four days of training, which will certify them to implement the target labs. Two weeks of leadership training in the summer will allow forty teachers to extend their expertise, develop student research capabilities, and formulate biology electives. Training will be conducted by DNALC master trainers at sites in Manhattan, Queens, and Nassau County.
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