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On May 3rd, 4th, 7th and
8th three local high schools hosted guest
presenter Dr. Susan McCouch, from Cornell
University. McCouch is a world-renowned rice
researcher and pioneer in creating the rice
genome map. Biology teachers from Homer, Groton
and Cortland have worked with the McCouch Rice
Lab group from Cornell
(http://ricelab.plbr.cornell.edu/) for the past
few years to bring equipment, resources and
experienced researchers into the classroom to
benefit their students taking the Living
Environment course. Students participated in two
laboratory exercises - DNA extraction and gel
electrophoresis that helped them to understand
the biological concepts behind modern DNA testing
procedures.
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This was the 5th year these
rice labs have been presented at Homer and
Groton, and the 4th year for Cortland. The
teachers who took advantage of this opportunity
include Paula Jones, Melissa Schug, Kathy Pratt
and Tom George from Homer; Fred Ott and David
Syracuse from Groton; and Karen Krichbaum-Stenger
from Cortland. This project was initiated by
McCouch and Jones 5 years ago when Jones was
teaching at Groton. The two women applied for a
National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to
purchase the equipment and materials. Jonesí
appreciates that students get that opportunity
to do college level activities while gaining
insight into future roles that science plays in
the world.
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Krichbaum-Stenger is a strong
supporter of the hands-on laboratory opportunity
for her biology students. Traditionally the
concepts of genomic DNA is taught in abstract
form through discussion and reading. This lab
allows the students to apply it in real life, to
understand the process, and to work with tools
that are otherwise unavailable to them. It also
allows them to interact with professionals in the
field - to ask them about their experiences and
get answers to questions they have about working
in a lab.
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McCouch captivated students as
she set the background for the lab work. She told
of how rice and rice genomics are crucial to
addressing the challenges facing the world today.
Although agricultural grain production has more
than tripled since 1945, the world population
growth has outgrown grain production. And many of
the worldís poorest people consume the less
nutritional white rice because it uses less fuel
and has better storage characteristics in hot
moist climates. With over 250,000 varieties of
rice available to researchers, the genomic
diversity from these varieties can be used to
naturally breed and improve crops for production
in many environments. For example, in Africa
flooded rice fields would harbor diseases such as
malaria ñ which is the #1 killer of children
under the age of 5, so current work is on
developing better varieties for the production
needs of Africa. Improvements in rice can also
direct improvements in other cereal crops, all
with larger genomes than rice. Globally three
grains, - rice, maize and wheat - are the staples
for human nutrition. Jones commented about
feedback from the students on the presentation.
They are always amazed by her (McCouch's)
presentation, because they had not previously been
forced to see food and water as a privilege. As
a first-timer to the program Syracuse was
impressed to understand the importance of rice to
the worldís welfare.
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The students learned
about techniques that molecular biologists and
geneticists use in their labs everyday to try to
solve some of the problems that the world is
facing. This challenge was accepted by grinning
students, who froze and crushed plant leaves in
liquid nitrogen and used finely calibrated
pipettes to measure DNA into the gel plates.
Their interest was obvious as they asked
questions about how genomics and biotechnology
affect them. A student from Homer stated, That
was cool, everything we did in lab I saw on CSI
(a television drama) last week. Another student
asked about the difference between biotechnology
and bioengineering. A ninth grader from Cortland
said ìIím going to go home and tell my father
about this, and he isnít going to believe it!
Students from Groton also had the option to grow
a rice plant and to view a rice flower under a
microscope.
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Ott, a teacher from Groton,
believes that presenters are important to keep
the students interest. His comment, There are
so many job opportunities in science . . . When
you tell kids about them they don't get it, but
when they see it they get excited, proved true
as many students remarked that grinding rice
leaves and using pipettes was fun, and they were
interested in doing further laboratory work.
Syracuse had his students participate in the
event because ìThis class puts it all together
taking the different concepts and units that we
teach and putting them into one
lab.
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Although the original grant has
expired, McCouch and her laboratory staff plan on
continuing to offer this lab experience to the
local schools, and are looking forward to new
students and new experiences next year.
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