I was told to blog about the last three labs we have done, and that I shall. Well, here it comes.
The first lab, the ALU insert lab, was great. I really enjoyed getting to use all of the equipment to extract, grow, and prepare our DNA so we could view it. I enjoy learning about the specific equipment, how DNA is prepared for experiments, and just about DNA in general. I definitely prefer getting to use the equipment in a lab to not, because it makes it seem like their is really a point. It was hands-on instead of theoretical. I actually wanted to be involved because the machines, chemicals, DNA, and results were real. They weren’t just drawings on a board representing the experiment. The downside was that the DNA didn’t really show up in the end, so the experiment never really had conclusive data that the students saw. Still, I think this ws the best lab in terms of knowledge gained.
The second lab, the Niemann Pick lab, was not as good. It was basically the same, but with less involvement. We didn’t actually gather the samples, boil them, freeze them, or anything else that went into preparing the samples. That wouldn’t be bad on its own, but then we didn’t do the middle section. The second part of the experiment was to look at who had the disorder and who could have the recessive allele for it. After we had the that, the third part would prove whether we actually were correct or not. We never did the second. We just rushed about to get the experiment done because there “wasn’t much time left with the equipment.” It was less interesting because it didn’t seem like it was realistic. It seemed like it was rushed during class, but yet broken up between classes. The experiment was not there, or it was moving to fast to sink in. The first lab was the same situation, but it felt like there was a point. The fact that the DNA in the electrophoresis gel never showed up was a dissapointment. Once was bad, but twice? I would rate this as the worst of the three. The only thing I learned was what Niemann Pick was, and even that was more due to my own research than to the lab.
The third lab was fun. Although it wasn’t as complex or exact at the two with the Sanford equipment, it was still really great to work with the first-graders. I didn’t really learn much, but it was cool to try to teach the little kids about DNA and science. They were really excited to be doing an actual lab experiment. I seem to recall disliking the lack of actual experiments in grade-school science. I would say that this was the best lab in terms of having fun. I liked working with the kids. Most of all, I liked this because it was the only experiment where I had an end result that I could actually see. The fact that the lab with common kitchen ingredients turned out better than the two with expensive equpment surprised me. I liked finding ways to tie what we were doing back to his subjects: removing/adding liquid to the graduated cylander to get the right amount was math, etc. He was a little stunned when I pointed that out to him. Oh, first graders. 🙂
Until next time, I am: Finished with this assignment.