From Genes To Proteins: Bringing hands‐on molecular biology activities into middle school classrooms to promote STEM education

Abstract

We have initiated an outreach partnership to promote STEM education for middle school students. The San Diego Global Vision Academy (SDGVA) is a recently established K‐6 school with a diverse student population, and a curriculum that includes a focus on STEM and critical and innovative thinking. In this first year of our partnership, SDGVA students will be introduced to the structure of DNA and how it directs the production of proteins. Our overall goals are for students to develop a greater understanding of (i) the processes that control their development, and the basis for inheritance of characteristics, (ii) the basis for diseases such as cancer, and the applications of genetic manipulation in therapy and biotechnology, and (iii) opportunities for careers in the STEM fields in college and beyond. Towards these goals, we have designed a series of classroom activities that include use of hands‐on materials in classroom lessons. Students will also perform inquiry‐based, laboratory‐style experimental investigations, including extracting DNA from different sources, and looking at fluorescent proteins made in bacteria, under the guidance of students from USD. We also plan for SDGVA students to visit USD to interact with faculty and students in the STEM fields. We will describe the progress of our project, its impact on students, and our plans for the future development of this partnership.