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.  Introductory workshops include an introduction to the science behind biotechnology and several hands-on opportunities for teacher participants as they learn how to present biotechnology activities in their own classrooms.  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.  Armed with the knowledge gained at these workshops, teachers return to their classrooms to teach hands-on biotechnology with the following no-cost material support:

• 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.

General information about our Summer Workshops for Educators program, as well as brief descriptions of a variety of past NCBC-sponsored workshops can be found at www.ncbiotech.org/summerworkshops. Online registration for the 2013 Summer Workshops will open in mid-March, 2013.

Classroom Teaching Support

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

• Heal, Feed, Sustain: How Biotechnology Can Help Save the World
• (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 2012
  “North Carolina’s Biomanufacturing and Pharmaceutical-Manufacturing Workforce”
• Video: Agricultural Biotechnology: Accelerating Economic Opportunities in North Carolina.
• Cultivating Leadership in Ag Biotech

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.