Restriction+Enzyme+Lab

Dustin did the restriction enzyme lab during one 90 minute period and had the students run the gel the next 90 minute period. Overall, I think it went well and the students seemed to enjoy the activity. We were able to use 4 boxes instead of 2, so that was nice.

The class size for Forensic Science is smaller than the regular biology classes. I am not sure what would be the best way to handle 30-33 students in two groups.

Dustin had the groups each send one person from each group at a time for each step of the restriction enzyme part of the lab. This allowed him to oversee the pipetting with them individually instead of doing a separate lab. This also enabled him to oversee what they were doing and help at each step as needed. He explained what they were doing at each step before he had the students come up, so all the students would understand what was going on. Some of my students seemed very interested and took notes as he was talking about each step. Some of them did not. It might be helpful, especially with a biology class to have the students have a worksheet or something to fill out about what is happening at each step as he is explaining. It might also be beneficial for the classroom teacher to have a book assignment or something for the students who have not been called up to do the pipetting to be working on (Or maybe something the classroom teacher and grad student come up with together -- something to keep the students focused while they are waiting for their turn. This could even be answering questions over one of the demonstrations of how to run the lab on the wikispace if the teacher has access to lap tops.)

The gels take 90 minutes to run, and don't start running until after the students have loaded everything. The classes are 90 minute periods. This worked out great for the Anatomy and Physiology classes and the Forensic Science classes as there was a day between two of the classes and a lunch period between the others. I'm not sure how to work it when the classes are back to back. It might be beneficial to bring more of the equipment to one school and then do the lab with another school another week. Also, at Northwest, there are sometimes more than one biology class meeting at once. Would it be better to combine the classes each hour to do the lab or do them on different days?