Program Information

 

Welcome to our Biology Outreach Program Curricula at College of the Canyons!

These curricula are gleaned from a variety of resources (see literature cited section in each lab) and represent over 6 different lab activities suitable for an introductory course in biotechnology. You are welcome to reproduce and/or modify these labs except for the cover page which should be left intact.

Why...

We at Outreach believe it is vital to understand the additional responsibilities and burdens of a science educator. In addition to teaching their subjects they are expected; to create hands on labs for each class (which is itself a full-time position in industry and Universities), match these labs to meet ever-changing State standards, convey how to solve problems like a scientist, open the material beyond the classroom, and above all else make science fun. What they are often faced with is a lack of materials, facilities, funding, and/or time. It is our aim to share just some of those burdens that science educators face by providing the resources and tools they need to optimize their class.

The Modules

Each and every module includes a cover page with a hook, often a QR code with a video intended to introduce students of all levels to the lab. The following background information requires students to participate in their learning, asking major conceptual questions to be answered before the start of the lab. We believe it is inherently better to lead students to some of the fundamental ideas of Biology rather than outright tell them. Supplemental and Postlab questions are meant to be interchangeable for their respective labs, allowing teachers to customize their content for the class that they teach. These modules have applications beyond traditional Biology classes. Gel Filtration, DNA Electrophoresis, DNA Spooling, Transformation, Food Lab are all free standing, but students benefit from prior experience working with labs in the Outreach series, so make reservations for more than 1 lab!

Technical Prep and Answer Keys

The prep sheets are in Word format, and can be easily updated/modified as needed. Please note: certain assumptions regarding technical prep have been made. They are not exhaustive and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me (Jim Wolf). The teacher guides are useful background and snapshots (essentially a set of cliff notes for the entire lab) are available upon request from Jim Wolf or Patrick Allen.