The second week of June was a busy and joyful time at BioBuilder’s Learning Lab @Allston Labworks in Boston. BioBuilder welcomed two groups of educators to the lab for BioBuilder teacher training workshops for the BioBuilder and BioTechBuilder curricula.
The two groups included:
- Experienced BioBuilder educators back for more!
- New BioBuilder educators excited to get started!
Both groups were led by Dr. Natalie Kuldell, BioBuilder’s Founder and Executive Director. The workshops included:
- Learning – or reviewing – the BioBuilder approach to teaching biotechnology to students in high school, college, and career & technical education programs.
- Studying core biotech concepts and applications.
- Gaining hands-on skills that are vital to biotech labs and biomanufacturing.
Let’s take a closer look at what the teachers in each group spent their time doing – and what they achieved!
Advanced Teacher Training
The first two days were devoted to advanced teacher training. Eight seasoned BioBuilder educators from six East Tennessee high schools refreshed their understanding of BioBuilder and practiced more BioTechBuilder labs.
Day 1
The workshop kicked off with a review of BioBuilder and BioTechBuilder, allowing the teachers to “dig deeper” into the curricula.
They followed this up with two “learn then do” sessions to reinforce and expand their skills with BioTechBuilder lessons and labs:
| Session 1 | Session 2 |
| Classroom: Solutions & Cells Lab: Making solutions Cell culture set up | Classroom: DNA Lab: ONs for DNA/β-gal induction |
The educators rounded out the day creating lesson plans to teach these topics and skills in their classrooms.
Day 2
The second day began with a recap of the previous day’s work and time for follow-up Q&A. Then, using the same “learn then do” approach, the educators spent the day working on two BioTechBuilder lessons and labs:
| Session 1 | Session 2 |
| Classroom: DNA Lab: Purif simulation | Classroom: Proteins Lab: Lysozyme prep |
The educators again ended the day creating lesson plans to use in their unique classrooms.
These advanced biotech teachers are taking their skills and enthusiasm back to Tennessee where they will pass along the “biotech buzz” to their students. No doubt they will also help other teachers and schools in the East Tennessee region begin their own biotech education journey. Talk about a WIN-WIN-WIN situation! 😊
New Teacher Training
The Wednesday through Friday workshop included six educators who are getting ready to launch BioBuilder into their classrooms in Illinois, Ohio, and Tennessee. They enjoyed three days of learning and doing with the BioTechBuilder modules.
Some of the experienced Tennessee educators stayed on to help train the new BioBuilder teachers.
The new teachers began by learning the basics and approaches of the BioBuilder project-based program and the BioTechBuilder skills-based program. Then they explored all three BioTechBuilder modules and classroom/lab lessons. The three-day workshop was full of great bio:
| Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Classroom: Welcome & Goal Setting BioBuilder & BioTechBuilder Solutions and Cells Lab: Making solutions Cell culture set up Classroom: DNA Foundations Lab: Miniprep/PCR/Sequencing ONs for β-gal induction | Classroom: Recap and Q/A Protein Foundations Lab: β-gals Classroom: Biodesign (Top down) Biomanufacturing Lab: Viability assay Classroom: Biodesign (bottom up) | Classroom: Recap and Q/A Calculations/BioB/TechT Synthetic Biology Lab: ETS Classroom: Biodesign Groups Lab: iTune Classroom: Presentation Prep Biodesign Presentations |
Imagine gaining the skills to teach high school students why and how to do cell culture, DNA sequencing, bioproduct design, and other advanced bioprocesses. Needless to say, the teachers were thrilled to be there “learning and doing”!
They also used their newly gained knowledge and skills to begin their own biodesigns, just as their students will eventually be doing. The teachers presented their designs on Friday to the group and their instructors.
After the workshop, the educators were asked if their confidence level in teaching biotechnology had changed as a result of the training. They overwhelmingly noted increased confidence across the classroom and lab activities!
BioBuilder is honored to host such a remarkable group of educators!
Teacher Matt Kirkpatrick shared about the workshop in a LinkedIn post. This is music to BioBuilder ears!
Student Outlook on AI and Implications for STEM Learning
A recent article published in Inside Higher Ed presented the results of a survey of college students about their perceptions, use, and expectations of AI in their studies. The results revealed that students are enthusiastic about using AI to assist in their studies, such as for research, explaining concepts, completing projects, and helping them understand course material faster.
At the same time, many of them are worried about becoming dependent on AI so much that their critical thinking skills may suffer. And they are less than confident that their schools are adequately informing and preparing them for careers that will include at least some use of AI.
BioBuilder recognizes the need to help both teachers and students thoughtfully consider potential uses of AI in STEM education and careers. This is why our teacher training workshops thread AI considerations throughout classroom and lab discussions.
For example, the recent June teacher workshops purposely included several AI-related topics, such as:
- Ways in which AI can support STEM teaching, learning, and communications
- The potential for AI to capture and assess laboratory skills that are often difficult to teach, observe, and credential at scale
- Using AI to create a discussion guide based on a conversation or presentation
- How AI can help spur biotechnology innovation
If the reported student concern about schools needing to better prepare students for appropriate and helpful AI use is accurate, then BioBuilder teachers are at the cutting edge of doing just that!
Read Dr. Natalie Kuldell’s full LinkedIn post that touches on these and other AI discussions from the teacher workshops.