• Natural products and Biosensor
• Enzyme Function Lab
• DNA Extraction
• Gel Electrophoresis
• PCR
• Bioremediation
• Looking at the Chesapeake Bay
  September through June
  
• Oyster Lab
  September through April
  
• Zebrafish Embryology
  December & May
  
• Biofilms
  Sept., Oct., May & June
  
• Plankton and the Ecosystem
  March & April

Grade 3-5 Program - Looking at the Chesapeake Bay
Call for more information about the program

Biofilms and Biodiversity Students get first hand experience with Chesapeake Bay biodiversity and the micoorganisms that develop suitable habitat. The program will help students and teachers understand the role that biofouling communities play in relationship to water quality by using an innovative sampling system that incorporates acrylic discs and performing analysis via the WWW. The project will increase the ability to rapidly monitor and identify the organisms that attach to the discs as another way of monitoring water quality. This information will be shared with our VIRTUE Project partner schools in Goteborg, Sweden, and Bergen, Norway, making this a global and collaborative project.

DNA Extraction Lab Following an introduction to DNA, students will have an opportunity to extract DNA from some interesting cell samples like horseshoe crab blood, salmon sperm, bacteria, and some common vegetables or fruits. Some samples will be prepared ahead of time while others will be prepared by the students. The students will then compare their DNA extractions to positive samples. The steps are not complicated but do require that students work with the idea in mind of optimizing the yield of DNA product that they are attempting to extract. The experiment introduces students to the use of fundamental lab equipment and the process of gel electrophoresis of DNA samples.

Natural Products and Biosensors Students learn about the development and research behind microbial biosensors. Students are able to prepare extracts from marine algae and other plants, test the effectiveness of the extract on a bioluminescent bacterium, and make conclusions about their experiment based upon their hypothesis regarding their extract in comparison to the results from other groups.

Oil Pollution: A Soapy Solution Students will investigate the ability of biosurfactants to emulsify motor oil by attempting to remove oil from sand and false fur that has been contaminated with oil. The techniques and methods utilized by the students increase their awareness of the process of emulsification by biosurfactants and what value it may have for environmental problems regarding oil pollution.

Oysters After an inquiry about the eastern oyster and a review of background information with the SciTech staff, students will generate a list of questions they have about the eastern oyster. Student investigations will be preformed in the SciTech Student Research Laboratory. Students will work with a live oyster to observe and understand the relationship oysters have with other invertebrates, oyster anatomy, the process of filtration of food and non-food particulate matter, and the techniques used to identify disease-causing microorganisms. In addition, a Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) scientist will discuss his or her research, personal science career path and respond to student questions about possible careers in science.

Plankton in the Bay In the lab students will use the Olympus America microscope equipment to get a better view of the plankton so they can learn about the different species and estimate populations from the Inner Harbor water. The lab will help students understand the dynamics between nutrients, springtime algae blooms, and zooplankton population growth. Students will explore the environmental factors that favor plankton growth and reproduction in the Bay and how their populations are dependent upon key nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Fundamental math applications to estimate plankton populations will help students understand the role of math and sampling in the environment. In turn, the research conducted at COMB that focuses on the link of zooplankton to vectors of human disease will be described and demonstrated.

Zebrafish Embryology Students learn about developmental biology by collecting and observing newly fertilized zebrafish eggs. Students observe zebrafish development at varying temperatures and record data as the embryos rapidly develop from 2 cells to over 1,000 in just three hours! The speed of zebrafish development provides researchers with a powerful model useful in studying gene function in Striped Bass. Students will learn to stage cells and will design experiments to observe the effect of very small temperature changes on the rate of development.

Grade 3-5 Program - Looking at the Chesapeake Bay
The grade 3-5 program is called Looking at Chesapeake Bay. During their two-hour visit the students get a chance to gain an understanding of the ecology of the bay by using different field and laboratory equipment. One activity involves the hands-on use of different devices used to collect water samples and plankton from the bay. Inside, the participants put on lab coats and get a chance to try different lab activities. They involve using Olympus America microscope equipment to look at different Chesapeake organisms while they are alive. The focus is practicing the use of the microscopes with activities that include feeding sea anemones, identifying different types of mud crabs using a simple key, and looking at the plankton that the students collected while they were outside. With the equipment the students all get a chance to get a take home a photo of something that they enjoyed looking at under the microscopes. Other activities include holding a periwinkle snail and a scavenger hunt looking for different bay creatures that are maintained in the lab. The latest additions to those organisms are thirteen diamond back terrapins that are a part of a Department of Natural Resources program. This gives the students a chance to see and participate in a threatened species restoration project.