PROBE Introduces New Workshop for High School Students
A new workshop through the Program for Outreach in Biology Education (PROBE) aims to create an interactive and intellectual relationship between Rider University and high school students.
Under the direction of Dr. Jon Hayashi, director of PROBE and adjunct professor of Biology, Ewing High School teacher Wesley Womelsdorf and his Advanced Placement (AP) Biology class took part in a molecular biology clinic on February 12 at the University.
During the class, Hayashi showed the students how to extract DNA from cells and run an electrophoresis freeze gel to see the size of the particles. Hayashi said this is a standard procedure seen everywhere in microbiology fields including hospitals, forensics and biotech laboratories.
The AP class, the first to participate in the clinic, worked in the laboratory from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hayashi said molecular biology “involves a lot of standing around, waiting for stuff to happen” and once it happens there needs to be additional time to explain the mechanics. Students also learned how to develop hypotheses.
“Molecular biology is really exciting. We’re trying to build that excitement in the kids,” Hayashi said.
The Ewing students are in the process of finding a gene of interest from any source, and Hayashi can help them better understand the nature of that gene.
Womelsdorf, who also teaches Biology, Human Anatomy and Forensics classes at Ewing High School, has taken his students to PROBE workshops for the past 10 years. He said his AP students are required to complete 12 labs. The class studied two chapters on DNA technology and started some of the lab work in class, which they completed at Rider.
“I’m thankful for the workshop,” Womelsdorf said. “How could you not enjoy having a big requirement of your course satisfied by a college program?” He also hopes to bring his Forensics class to the molecular biology clinic next year.
The seminar is designed to allow students to experiment in an environment with equipment, which high schools might not have the means to provide. Hayashi said he hopes he can make the University a resource. For example, if a student has a question from class or the news, he or she can e-mail him.
At the end of each session, students will be given an assignment to come up with a question of their own. Hayashi will help the students focus on those questions and help them organize their own experiments.
“We’re hoping some of these kids go to Rider University. If others go into science – that’s doubly great,” Hayashi said.
Hayashi said some biotech companies have expressed an interest in the program because some students can become internship or job candidates. Hayashi hopes to bring the Ewing class to Medical Diagnostic Laboratories, LLC, in Mount Laurel.
Hayashi, who’s designing a neuroscience workshop, hopes to involve more schools in the program. All students are welcome to participate in the Molecular Biology clinics, and need not be enrolled in an AP class.
“I am always open to suggestions for workshops from high school teachers,” Hayashi said.
PROBE, which began in 1997, holds science workshops for high school students and teachers. There are currently two PROBE clinics – one in molecular biology, and a marsh workshop, under the direction of Dennis Gemmell, an adjunct professor of Biology.
Gemmell, as well as Kathy Browne and Mary Leck, the two previous directors of PROBE, have held seminars at the Hamilton/Trenton Marsh for teachers and their students. Since 2000, there have been 135 workshops for 50 teachers and 2,226 students from 31 high schools. Their aim is to give both teachers and students an opportunity to learn good scientific inquiry in an ecological setting. After the workshop, students are required to write a research paper. Gemmell evaluates the papers, and the winners are awarded at a ceremony at Rider.
Hayashi hopes to start the neurobiology workshop in May.
Submitted on March 13, 2008
