SEARCH Students Visit the DNA Learning Center
A recent visit to the Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center was a fascinating experience for more than 40 fifth graders in the Huntington School District’s SEARCH program.
The youngsters spent an entire day performing hands-on labs related to their 16-week unit in genetics and biology. For more than 25 years SEARCH program teacher-chairperson Maryann Daly has brought her fifth and sixth grade students to the well-regarded Cold Spring Harbor facility, which is an operating unit of the world-renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It is billed as “the world’s first science center devoted entirely to genetics education.”
Known for its life changing scientific discoveries, the Cold Spring Harbor Lab boasts some of the world’s top researchers in its ranks. That atmosphere has spilled over to the DNA Learning Center where inquisitive students are able to engage in study and experiments specifically crafted to their interests and age group.
“Several years ago while our children were attending these labs at the center, Dr. James Watson, the scientist who along with Francis Crick (and Rosalind Franklin) discovered the structure and importance of DNA was there as well to deliver a speech to a select group of scientists,” said Mrs. Daly, who was accompanied to the DNA Learning Center by SEARCH teacher colleague Christina Gottlieb. “He was even kind enough to say hello to our young children, which was quite a treat they will long remember. They understand why this man and people like him are much more than just celebrities. These are the people who have changed the way mankind battles diseases.”
The recent trip by the SEARCH (Scholastic Enrichment and Resource for the Children in Huntington) program fifth graders was jam-packed with learning opportunities. An introductory presentation by the center’s instructors included a review of the hands-on stations that students rotated through before moving on to a lab where they learned how to extract DNA from a harmless ecoli sample.
“It was way cool to twirl the DNA strands around a dropper after it was separated from the sample using ethanol and a liquid detergent,” one student said. “It was amazing to see that we could actually touch the DNA and see it with our very own eyes.
“After lunch and a video about the fascinating work of geneticists, including an interview with Dr. Watson, the children participated in the second lab, which involved understanding the makeup of the double helix, its nucleotides and the sides of the ladder, which were composed of sugars and phosphates,” Mrs. Daly said. “Cytosine always joined with guanine and adenine always joined with thymine. They each created their very own model of DNA, which they eagerly took home.”
The DNA Learning Center instructors were impressed with the overall knowledge the Huntington fifth graders displayed about genetics. The youngsters found it fascinating to participate in labs involving real world science. “I really believe we have some future scientists in this group of children,” Mrs. Daly said. “Their interest level was high and their enthusiasm to learn more about this science was refreshing.”
One student said it was an “epic day” for him, adding the experience was “so cool.” Mrs. Daly said the fifth graders were pleased to learn that they would be returning next year as sixth graders for customized forensics labs designed especially for the SEARCH students.