Workshops & Summer Programs
Summer Biology Workshop
This workshop brings teachers together every summer to experience recent updates in biology and to promote interactions between teachers and Cornell scientists. The workshop includes talks from Cornell faculty members, hands-on lab and field activates, and opportunities for teachers to interact with other teachers and Cornell researchers. The workshops will be held on Cornell's campus in Ithaca, NY from July 8 to July 20, 2007.
Photos (541 MB) and movies (1.4 MB) courtesy of Blake Sills.
Boor Presentation PDF (35 MB)
Cassano Presentation PDF (6.4 MB)
Holmes Presentation PDF (31 MB)
Place Presentation PDF (2.7 MB)
Workshop Responsibilities and Benefits
Participants are required to attend all scheduled program activities and to complete all assignments. Participants will receive 100 in-service hours for successful completion of this workshop. Housing, breakfasts and some lunches and dinners will be provided by program. There will be no charge for attending the workshop.
Schedule Week 1
| Day 1: Sun 7/8 |
Day 2: Mon 7/9 |
Day 3: Tue 7/10 |
Day 4: Wed 7/11 |
Day 5: Thr 7/12 |
Day 6: Fri 7/13 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | |
| 8:30 | Field Trip Activity: Comparing Aquatic Communities (O.D. Von Engeln Bog) |
|||||
| 9:00 | Program Introduction | Activity: DNA Profiling |
Activity: DNA Profiling (con't.) |
Activity: Protein Lab |
||
| 9:30 | ||||||
| 10:00 | ||||||
| 10:30 | Talk: Disease Transmission / Epidemiology |
Activity: Lab Tours with Hughes Scholars |
||||
| 11:00 | ||||||
| 11:30 | ||||||
| 12:00 | Lunch | Lunch (when available) |
Lunch with Faculty |
Lunch (when available) |
LUNCH @ Myers Point | |
| 12:30 | ||||||
| 1:00 | DNA Intro | |||||
| 1:30 | Activity: DNA Profiling (con't.) |
Activity: Protein Lab (con't.) |
Activity: Comparing Aquatic Communities (Myers Point) |
|||
| 2:00 | Registration | Activity: How Many CATs? |
Activity: Catalase |
|||
| 2:30 | ||||||
| 3:00 | ||||||
| 3:30 | Activity: DNA Stats |
Talk: Slugs! |
||||
| 4:00 | Travel to Talks | |||||
| 4:30 | Activity: Hughes Scholars Talks |
|||||
| 5:00 | Welcome Dinner | |||||
| ... | ||||||
| 7:00 | Evening Activity: Disease Transmission |
Evening Activity: Transcription and Translation Activities |
Homework: DNA Profiling Presentations |
Evening Activity: Wednesday Night Talk |
||
| ... |
Schedule Week 2
| Day 1: Mon 7/16 |
Day 2: Tue 7/17 |
Day 3: Wed 7/18 |
Day 4: Thr 7/19 |
Day 5: Fri 7/20 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast |
| 8:30 | |||||
| 9:00 | Activity: PCR 1 (Intro, Set up PCR) |
Talk: Kathryn Boor |
Activity: PCR 3 |
Activity: Forensic Activities 1 |
Lending Library Introduction / Program Wrap-Up / Evaluation / Good-Byes! |
| 9:30 | |||||
| 10:00 | |||||
| 10:30 | Activity: PCR 2 (Digests, Run and Load Gel) |
Activity: Goldenrod Galls |
Talk: Ned Place |
||
| 11:00 | |||||
| 11:30 | |||||
| 12:00 | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | LUNCH with Laurel | |
| 12:30 | |||||
| 1:00 | Activity: Slugs 1 |
Activity: Slugs 2 |
Activity: Dissection of Pregnant Cow Reproductive Tract |
||
| 1:30 | Activity: Forensic Activities 2 |
||||
| 2:00 | |||||
| 2:30 | Activity: Elodea 1 |
Activity: Elodea 2 |
Activity: The Broken Heart |
||
| 3:00 | |||||
| 3:30 | |||||
| 4:00 | Activity: Test Lab Development Activities |
||||
| 4:30 | |||||
| 5:00 | |||||
| ... | Good-Bye Bonfire / Skit |
||||
| 7:00 | Evening Activity: A Night with Uncle Howard |
Evening Activity: Bowling Challenge |
|||
| ... |
Note: Shaded meals are provided by CIBT.
Sunday 7/08
- Disease transmission activity
Can you imagine a better way to get to know your colleagues? This activity demonstrates how quickly diseases can spread through a community. We use the model of HIV to show how behavior can affect the pathway of disease.
Monday 7/09
- Program Introduction
This session will orient you to your next two weeks of "Bio-Teacher Summer Camp". - Disease transmission/Epidemiology
We will use some simple epidemiology on disease data we collected on Sunday night to trace the disease back to its starting point. - DNA introduction
The "basics" of DNA structure and function. We will introduce the principals of gel electrophoresis, restriction digests, and DNA profiling involved in the How Many CATs?, Statistics and Probability of DNA evidence, and DNA Profiling activities. - How many CATs?
A simple and effective pencil and paper simulation which highlights the process of running and reading a DNA gel. In this paper simulation, participants "cut" DNA samples from a mother, a baby, a husband, and a rape suspect using a restriction endonuclease. They will then "run" the DNA fragments on a "gel" to simulate the process of electrophoresis. A fluorescent probe is then washed over the gel. Finally, students will analyze the gel to identify the father of the baby. - Statistics and Probability of DNA Evidence
This activity uses candies to explain what the results of a DNA profiling gel actually mean! Apply statistical analysis to the DNA profiling results of an actual rape case. In part I of this exercise, participants use sets of candy to represent alleles in a particular population at a particular locus. They will sample alleles from populations at three loci, estimate frequencies of alleles in those samples and calculate probabilities of particular combinations of alleles.
Tuesday 7/10
- DNA Profiling
Cut DNA samples from two simulated paternity tests with restriction enzymes and electrophoreses them on an agarose gel. You will be able to borrow the equipment we use for this lab from the CIBT lending library!
Wednesday 7/11
Having finished up with DNA, we move on to Proteins and Enzymes on Wednesday Afternoon.
- Catalase
The structure and function of enzymes is a central theme in cellular and molecular biology. In this laboratory exercise, we will prepare a crude cell extract from potatoes. We will then use this extract to study the activity of the enzyme, catalase [which catalyzes the reaction 2h4O2 (l) -> 2h4O(l) + O2 (g)], using a simple assay for O2.
Thursday 7/12
- Protein Gel Electrophoresis
Use protein gel electrophoresis to study the proteins in living things. We will look at the different protein profiles in animal tissues as well as plant tissues grown under different conditions. - Slugs!
Get up to speed on slugs in preparation for the Slug Lab. What makes a slug a slug? Do slugs have teeth? How do slugs mate? You'll find out after this talk!
Friday 7/13
- Comparing Aquatic Communities: The O. D. von Engeln Bog and Myers Point
Friday is field-trip day! We will spend the morning at the O. D. von Engle Bog. We will start with a tour of the bog, observing the different ecosystems that exist in close proximity. We'll then use CIBT's Limnology kit to gather information on the water quality in the bog. Lastly, we will collect some bacterial samples to analyze after the weekend.
Next we move to Myer's point on Cayuga Lake for a tasty lunch. After lunch we will use the Limnology Kit to test the water quality in Cayuga Lake that will allow us to compare and contrast one of the finger lakes and an inland bog.
Monday 7/16 and Tuesday 7/17
- PCR
The Polymerase Chain Reaction has revolutionized molecular biology. After a brief introduction, we will use PCR to examine the ribosomal RNA genes of the bacterial samples we collected at the bog. - Food Preferences of Slugs
Investigate the food preferences of garden slugs (Arion subfuscus) using simple equipment including margarine tubs, graph paper, scissors, and common plants, both wild and cultivated. The exercise is genuine scientific research in that: a) the student devises his/her own "research question" about slug feeding behavior, and b) the results are truly unknown to the student-experimenter (and possibly to the instructor) prior to the experiment. In carrying out the complete set of experiments described in the lab, students learn that one way to achieve precision and accuracy is by designing experiments with many replicates. - Respiration in Elodea
This lab involves the qualitative measurement of the changes in carbon dioxide concentration associated with both respiration and photosynthesis in the fresh water plant Elodea. Bromthymol blue is used as an indicator for the presence of CO2 in solution. Students design an experiment that will allow them to demonstrate the use of CO2 by a green plant in photosynthesis, and net production of CO2 (by respiration) in the absence of photosynthetic activity.
Wednesday 7/18
- Goldenrod Gall Size as a Result of Natural Selection
This investigation examines natural selection and co-evolution using goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), its stem gall insect (Eurosta solidaginis), and associated parasites, parasitoids, and predators that feed upon the stem gall insect. A correlation between gall size, frequency of predation, and type of predator can be made through measurements of gall size and an investigation of events occurring within the galls. We will analyze histograms and data tables charted from gall measurements and frequencies of various events leads to the conclusion that parasitic organisms select goldenrod galls within specific ranges of size. - HIV Testing/ELISA
In this experiment students will perform an Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) simulation to see how it is used in the diagnosis of HIV infection. The lab is a simulation and does not use HIV antigen or human blood samples; however, it is otherwise a truly accurate depiction of the technique. Students will process samples from two different "patients" to determine whether they have been infected with HIV.
Thursday 7/19
- Dissection of a Pregnant Cow Reproductive Tract
We will dissect several early to mid-pregnant bovine reproductive tract. We will collect data on crown rump length and fetal mass for use with CIBT's Fetal Development lab. This wonderful activity will cause students to gain an appreciation of the form and function of the various reproductive organs. This exercise also serves as a comparative reproduction lab and highlights some of the differences between human and bovine anatomy. - The Broken Heart
In this activity, students will familiarize themselves with the structure of the heart. They locate the atria, ventricles, and major blood vessels. Through "surgical" procedures, students perform coronary bypass surgery and correct patent ductus arteriosus. Human and dog hearts are compared in terms of common structure and defects. - Blood Vessels
This laboratory investigates the physical mechanisms by which our blood vessels function in allowing the circulatory system to do its job. Blood vessels are not simply rigid tubes that conduct blood to our tissues like copper pipes carrying water to our houses, nor are they infinitely extensible balloons that can accommodate any amount of blood pressure or volume. In fact, blood vessels have a complex composition that allows them to do several different jobs and change their function depending on the situation. In essence, blood vessels are a dynamic tissue rather than a static one. Just as with other organs of the body, blood vessels are complex in nature because of the demand for their complex function. When a disease state changes these properties, it can have devastating and often fatal effects. In this exercise students will use models of blood vessels to determine the effects of normal blood vessel distensibility on the dynamics of blood flow, and investigate the nature of aneurysms.
Application
Fill out the on-line application, download the PDF, or write cibt@cornell.edu to receive a form in the mail.
You will need to submit the following in addition to the completed application form:
- A statement of purpose explaining why you want to attend this course and how you will share your new knowledge.
- A resume including workshops, conferences and courses you have attended in the past five years.
- A letter of recommendation from an administrator of your school.
- A demographic profile sheet of your school's student population.
Materials can be e-mailed to cibt@cornell.edu or mailed to:
Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers
Cornell University
140 Biotechnology Building
Ithaca, NY 14853
