K-12 Education Support

K-12 education is where great science begins, and the Biotechnology Center’s focus is on support for North Carolina teachers, who in turn reach many thousands of students across the state.  The gateway to the support programs for a teacher begins with a professional development workshop during the summer.

Summer Workshops

Summer Workshops offer teachers the training they need in the many areas of biotechnology, featuring hands-on activities that engage students and improve learning.  Workshops include basic introductions to the science behind biotechnology and practice with laboratory equipment.  Advanced topics have included agricultural and marine biotechnology, microarray technology, and bioinformatics.  Workshops are essentially free.  Teachers receive CEUs and stipends.

Teachers who graduate from summer workshops have access to follow-up support programs that enable them to bring hands-on biotechnology to their classrooms.

• Free Laboratory Supplies - Workshop graduates receive annual gift certificates for lab supplies from Carolina Biological Supply Co. This program receives support from the Biogen Idec Foundation. 
• Lab Equipment Loans - Graduates from most Summer Workshops qualify to borrow equipment at no cost from the Center. Equipment ranging from micropipettors to thermal cyclers is shipped to schools for two-week loan periods.

Online registration for the 2012 Summer Workshops will open in mid-March.  Basic information regarding our Summer Workshop Program can be found at www.ncbiotech.org/summerworkshops.

Classroom Teaching Support

A wonderful new video was recently created by the folks at the North Carolina Biomedical Research Association (NCABR) with support from the Biotechnology Center's Education Enhancement Grant program.  If you are trying to explain to your students what biotechnology is, and what it is like to work at a company that uses biotechnology in North Carolina, show them this 23 minute video entitled "Heal, Feed, Sustain:  How Biotechnology Can Help Save the World."  It's a good bet you will probably enjoy this video, narrated by North Carolina  middle school students, as much as your class.

Many biotechnology-related publications are also available, both electronically and as handouts.  To request any of the publications listed below, please contact Amy Black.

• 2010 Evidence and Opportunity: Biotechnology Impacts in North Carolina
• Biomanfacturing Brochure
• Biotechnology Works in North Carolina
• (Biotechnology) Career Pathways: A Guide for Students, Parents and Educators in North Carolina
• Nanobiotechnology in North Carolina
• New Tools for the State's Industries (industrial biotechnology report)
  The full 16-page report offers examples of how biotechnology is improving processes and products, adding new life to North Carolina's otherwise traditional industries.
• New Tools for the State's Industries BioBrief
  Two-page abbreviation of above full report
• Window on the Workplace 2003
  The survey, conducted in the winter of 2002-2003, focuses on the bioprocessing sector and the pharmaceutical-manufacturing industry.
• Agricultural Biotechnology
• Agricultural Biotechnology BioBrief
  Two-page abbreviation of above full report

Grants for Biotechnology Education

You can get support to equip your classrooms, develop special curricula, or implement biotechnology across a school system. More information can be found at Education Enhancement Grants.