Twenty teachers from the Triad, Charlotte and Asheville areas are gathered at Davidson County Community College here this week for hands-on training in new techniques for teaching DNA basics.
The event marks the opening of the 20th anniversary season of the one-week teacher workshops, held each summer across North Carolina by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Invigorating Classrooms
In addition to hands-on lab training, the courses have provided nearly 1,300 North Carolina educators with practical tips and lesson plans to invigorate their classrooms. They have taught hundreds of thousands of students about the science, applications and issues of biotechnology.
Since the workshops were first offered in 1987, North Carolina's biotechnology industry has become the third largest in the nation, with about 400 biotechnology and related life sciences companies employing about 48,000 people. The statewide strategic plan for biotechnology development calls for North Carolina to have 125,000 biotech-related jobs by 2023.
A trained work force is essential to creating those jobs. The teacher workshops are one of several Biotechnology Center programs that promote work force training.
Biotechnology in the Schools
Biotechnology is now specifically included in the state's Standard Course of Study for eighth-grade science and high school biology. Teachers report that their students learn about biotechnology and related topics better with the kinds of hands-on activities featured in the summer workshops.
"Biotechnology has become such a fundamental part of everyday life in North Carolina that it's increasingly important to give students a taste of it during their basic biology training," said Bill Schy, Ph.D., manager of the Biotechnology Center's Education and Training Program. "Teachers who participate in these summer workshops say they come away with renewed enthusiasm and tools."
This year's summer program includes four introductory biotechnology workshops designed for high school science teachers, but also made available to college faculty seeking new teaching ideas. This week's workshop is one of those.
Two additional workshops target middle school science teachers and career-technical education teachers interested in piloting a new high school course.
The Biotechnology Center provides free lab supplies and loans of lab equipment and videos to teachers completing the workshops. Participants also qualify for continuing education renewal credits.
Workshop leaders typically include outstanding college and university faculty instructors and master high school teachers who are expert at implementing biotechnology in the classroom.
More Information
The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide.
Contact: Jim Shamp, news and publications editor, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, 919-541-9366 or jim_shamp@ncbiotech.org. Visit the Biotechnology Center's Web site at www.ncbiotech.org.
