Bringing life sciences education to life for high school students and the public.
Not all of the teaching that goes on at UBC’s Michael Smith Labs is tailored to university students or biotechnology industry clients. Michael Smith’s Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory (AMBL) offers short, introductory courses and workshops for high school students, teachers, business audiences and the public.
Over the last five years, approximately 10,000 high school students have spent the day at AMBL conducting hands-on molecular biology experiments in state-of-the-art, real world labs. "I received rave reviews about the field trip to the lab," notes Anita Kwon, a health sciences career preparation teacher at Hugh McRoberts Secondary. "The experience piqued a lot of the students' curiosity and interest in the field of biotechnology."
AMBL has augmented the fieldtrip program with molecular biology laboratory kits that allow high school teachers—appropriately trained in a separate workshop series at the AMBL—to provide in-class laboratory experience to their students.
Since 1999, AMBL has trained over 200 high school biology teachers, and sent out experimental kits that cater to thousands of students. "This opportunity for teachers is virtually unparallelled," says Tom Harding, the science department coordinator at Rockridge School. "It was stimulating, academically very enriching, and appropriate to the BC biology curriculum. This professional development experience, with such a laboratory focus, is essential for teachers if they are to energize their students with dynamic and relevant instructional strategies."
AMBL is also currently collaborating with GenomeBC in developing curriculum resources for grade 10 biology, and has assisted schools develop courses. For example, Albert Chang, Science Career Preparation Teacher, David Thompson Secondary School, notes: "The AMBL assisted with the development of our biotechnology course, which is currently the only one available in BC. We continue to depend on the expertise of this lab as we continue to develop our curriculum."
How You Can Help
Please contact the Development Office at 604.822.3404 for more information, and for details on how you can help MSL bring life sciences outreach to teachers and students.
