Fifth Graders Engage With DNA Scientists at the DNALC

The fifth grade's recent full-day field trip to the Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center on Long Island provided boys with the opportunity to engage with geneticists and other DNA scientists in hands-on activities that included a personalized tour of a working laboratory.

Students sampled slides of brain slices through a compound microscope while listening to scientists divulge the types of behaviors some of the brain areas control, and they learned about the tools neuroscientists use in their research.

They also explored the geographical origins of some of their favorite vegetables while planting their own seedling to take home. The session culminated with a tour of the working laboratory of a professor who is leading a group of scientists in investigating interactions between cancer and the nervous system.

Saint David's longstanding partnership with the DNALC enables boys to learn about DNA through a customized program of study co-taught over several weeks by their science teachers and DNA scientists/educators.