Summer Research Fellows Curriculum Projects

Four curriculum projects were completed during Summer 2005. The activities in each unit were informally field tested with students and teachers during development. The units are available for beta testing by interested teachers. Supplies for the activities are available to St. Louis area teachers from Washington University Science Outreach.

Each project contains a teacher manual including the following sections:

1. Lesson Overview (conceptual overview and teaching objectives)
2. Background Information (more detailed than that provided in student manual)
3. Timeline
4. Materials (per student or student group, include suppliers/vendors if possible)
5. Advance Preparation
6. Hints and Troubleshooting (if necessary)
7. Answers or solutions for any student worksheets
8. References and additional resources

Each projects also contains a student manual including the following sections:

1. Introduction (scientific background information)
2. Materials
3. Procedure
4. Observations/Analysis/Conclusions worksheets

Curriculum Units

What Color is Your Colony? (Grades 9-12)
Rapid colony transformation of E. coli with DsRed plasmid constructs producing various color phenotypes

Seeing Red: Daphnia and Hemoglobin (Grades 6-8)
Using visibility of hemoglobin in Daphnia as a bioindicator of pond health

Seeing Red: Daphnia and Hemoglobin Genes (Grades 9-12)
Daphnia species identification using PCR of hemoglobin gene

Field of Beans (Grades 9-12)
An experiment in use of herbicide resistant crop technology

Feedback

Questions, comments, and results of beta testing may be directed to Washington University Science Outreach genetics/bioinformatics director, Susan Flowers at (314) 935-4217 or flowers@wustl.edu.