Educator Workshops

We offer up-to-date teacher training through plant biology workshops and professional development for NYC teachers in genetics and biotechnology. With funding from the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute we offer these free workshops to high school and college educators, especially those in the areas of genetics, biology, genomics, and bioinformatics.

Check back frequently; additional workshops are listed as they are scheduled. (Brochures are PDF format and require Adobe Reader.)

... for High School Teachers

Please see the workshop description below.

This program will enable New York City teachers to deliver hands-on, inquiry-based experiments in genetics and biotechnology. With funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 8th through 12th grade teachers are trained to implement lab activities to complement the NYC Scope and Sequence, Life Science, Living Environment, and AP Biology curricula.

Visit the Harlem DNA Lab site for more information: http://www.dnalc.org/harlemdnalab/

... for College Educators

The iPlant Collaborative (iPlant) develops computational (cyber) infrastructure to provide researchers and educators access to the large datasets and informatics tools that drive modern biology. The free, 2-day Genomics in Education workshop introduces educational adaptations of iPlant discovery environments developed to support innovative curricula and exciting student research projects to prepare the scientists of the future. Instruction and workshop materials, lunches and a stipend of $100, are funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Further support for travel or other related expenses cannot be provided.

Genomics in Education focuses on DNA Subway, iPlant’s first educational discovery environment. DNA Subway was developed to make high-level genome analysis broadly available to students and educators. Annotating and comparing genome sequences can bring to life elements of gene structure, function, and evolution that previously could only be approached as abstractions. By assembling gene models and comparing genomes, DNA Subway users engage in their own learning as they acquire a range of conceptual and process knowledge and begin to grasp the challenges and promises of a data-driven, modern biology.