Workshop for New and Pre-Service Biology Teachers

This annual workshop held the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is specifically designed for new teachers K-12 (generally pre-tenure) and pre-service teachers (students enrolled in a college or university program leading to certification in secondary education).

Draft Schedule for 2009 Workshop

Descriptions of Session Options

Please note:  Space is limited to 20 participants in all sessions and will be granted on a first come-first served basis.

Session 1:

Photosynthesis and Respiration in Elodea.  Presented by Mary Kay Hickey Dryden High School.  Recommended grades 8-12.
This popular CIBT lab involves measuring changes in carbon dioxide concentration associated with both respiration and photosynthesis in the freshwater plant Elodea.

Yogurt Making.  Presented by Carolyn Wilczynski, Binghamton High School.  Recommended grades:  6-12.
Yogurt is essentially milk that has been fermented with the addition of 2 types of bacteria:  Streptococcus and Lactobacillus.  Through fermentation, these bacteria break down the sugars in the milk, while their enzymes break down the milk proteins.  What results is a custard-like semisolid that we know as yogurt.  The objective of this laboratory exercise is to learn about the anaerobic fermentation that the bacteria utilize and understand why this process turns milk into yogurt.

Light and Vision.  Presented by Lora Hine, Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics and Laurel Southard (Director, CIBT).  Recommended grades:  5-8.
Material presented during the first half of the workshop is from the Lawrence Hall of Science GEMS curriculum.  Participants will receive a free copy of the "Color Analyzers" Teachers’ Guide.  The four activities covered in this guide investigate properties of the visible spectrum and quickly draw students into learning why different objects appear to be different colors.  Topics covered during the second half of the workshop will cover principles of light as they relate to vision.  This will include properties of light as it interacts with matter, lenses, eyes, and diseases of the eyes.  Participants will conduct four different activities that will teach this information.

Session 2:

The Building Blocks of Life Lab:  Importance of Enzyme Shape.  Presented by Florianna Blanton.  CIBT Staff.  Recommended grades 8-12.
This exercise will take students through the steps of protein synthesis, from a DNA sequence to "building" part of an enzyme using Legos©.  The effect of various mutations on the wild-type enzyme will be illustrated.

Ancient Seas & Backyard Glaciers:  Introducing Local Earth Science into the Classroom.  Presented by Richard A.  Kissel, Director of Teacher Programs, Paleontological Research Institution.  Grades recommended:  Middle School.
Dig into Earth’s ancient past with scientists from the Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth!  Entombed within the rocks beneath our feet are the stories of our ancient past.  From the trilobites of primeval seas to the massive mastodons of the ice age, the northeastern US has a history dating back more than 500 million years.  Learn about this history and how to connect it to your curriculum through images, specimens, an understanding of regional history, and scientific inquiry.

The Teeth Kit.  Presented by Mary Kay Hickey.  Dryden High School.  Recommended grades:  2-5.
In this session we will utilize CIBT’s Teeth Kit, and allow students to investigate how the structure of a tooth relates to its function and the diet of different animals.  The unit also includes a comparative study of jaws from carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores, as well as a review of proper oral health care.

Session 3:

The NYS Living Environment Required Labs:  Session 1.  Presented by Mary Kay Hickey.  Dryden High School.
The New York State Regents curriculum for Biology, The Living Environment, requires that students take the State’s Regents Exam at the end of the school year.  A considerable portion of the Regents exam incorporates outcomes from the four New York State Laboratories.  In this session an experienced High School teacher shares ideas about setting up the labs and how to maximize the students’ learning.

The Spice Lab.  Presented by Laurel Southard, Director, CIBT.  Recommended grades:  6-10.
Does eating spicy food provide some useful function in the human body?  This scientific method-based session will introduce you to ethnobotany, the study of how different cultures utilize indigenous plants.  We will discuss the use of spices and their known antimicrobial properties.

The Boyce Thompson Institute Plant Activities.  Presented by Tiffany Fleming, Boyce Thompson Institute.  Recommended grades:  K-5.
In this workshop elementary teachers will be introduced to classroom activities from our k-5th grade curriculum the "Secret Life of Plants." These activities are designed to ignite young students’ curiosity and interest in science while building on what they know and think about the world around them.  Core elementary science standards are addressed, as well as methods for teaching science as inquiry.  Teachers leave with great lesson plans, resources and ideas for their classrooms.

Session 4:

Brain Geography.  Presented by Mark Albert, Graduate Student/Researcher Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, Cornell University.  Recommended grades:  High School.
Biology.  In this activity we will be coloring toy brains and discussing what each areas does as it is being colored.  The parts will be discussed by developing an intuition through examples, rather than rote memorization of names and locations.  At the end, everyone should be able to take many everyday thoughts and roughly map them to specific parts of the brain as well as make educated guesses about what might happen if the brain was damaged in certain areas.

Motivating Students with Easy and Inexpensive Science Labs and Activities.  Grades 5-8.
Looking for labs and activities to get your students motivated?  After this session you will walk away with these ready-to-use labs:  Case of the Missing Candy Jar (a forensics-type lab), Money and the Microscope Lab, Cellopoly (a board game for review), the Cell Organelle Play, and Gummy Bear Osmosis Lab.  If you are looking for labs on a shoestring budget, this session is for you.

Session 5:

The NYS Living Environment Required Labs:  Session 2.  Presented by Mary Kay Hickey.  Dryden High School.
The New York State Regents curriculum for Biology, The Living Environment, requires that students take the State’s Regents Exam at the end of the school year.  A considerable portion of the Regents exam incorporates outcomes from the four New York State Laboratories.  In this session an experienced High School teacher shares ideas about setting up the labs and how to maximize the students’ learning.  The labs presented will be different from those presented in Session 1.

M&M Lab.  Presented by Laurel Southard, Director, CIBT.  Recommended grades:  Middle School.
In this session participants will learn how to turn a couple of bags of plain M&Ms into a fun-filled math activity where higher thinking level skills are used from start to end!

Ice cream, how sweet it is!  Presented by Sarah Zaharchuk, President of E.Y.E.S.  (Encourage Young Engineers and Scientists).  Recommended grades:  2-8.
How is making ice cream an example of engineering?  In this engaging activity, participants guess possible ingredients and procedures to make ice cream, then using the appropriate ingredients and materials set out to make their own, edible ice cream.  They will also have an opportunity to discuss engineering fundamentals and how they are applied in our daily lives.

Session 6:

How Many CATs?  Presented by Mary Kay Hickey, Dryden High School.  Recommended grades:  8-12.
In this paper simulation, students will "cut" DNA samples from a mother, baby, husband, and rape suspect using a restriction enzyme.  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" in order to determine the paternity of the baby.

The Plant Game.  Presented by Florianna Blanton.  CIBT Staff.  Recommended grades 6-10.
This simulation exercise allows students to understand the factors that affect plant growth.  Teams of students "grow a plant" composed of "leaves", "roots", and "flowers.".  The goal of the game is to produce a plant with the maximum number of flowers.  This is possible only if the students have a good strategy to keep their "roots" in water and produce enough "leaves" to support adequate photosynthesis.  Rainfall, transpiration, and temperature fluctuations are some of the factors that students must address.

CIBT Elementary Measuring Activities.  Presented by Laurel Southard, Director, CIBT.
Students will measure length, volume, mass and temperature.  Students will be able to measure accurately using standard and non-standard units.  Students will become familiar with measurement in preparation for completion of the estimation lab activity.

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• 2007 New & Pre-Service
• 2006 New & Pre-Service