Overseas Attachment for Science Teachers

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Overseas Attachment for Science Teachers Science
Education Partnership Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Centre Seattle, Washington The course
was held over a 2 ½ week period and was attended
by about 30 teachers from Washington state. I was
one of 2 teachers sent to attend this course. The
first few days were devoted to discussing certain
Labs which included bacteria culture, gel
electrophoresis and chromatography. One week of
the course was set aside for a research
attachment. This attachment involved 6 partner
research institutes. Each teacher was assigned a
research mentor (a masters or PhD student or a
Postdoctoral fellow) and a lead teacher. The
experience varied depending on the research site.
I was posted to a basic sciences laboratory at
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute where I
did some hands-on experiments on making DNA
probes and studying gene expression using FISH
(Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation). Our lead
teacher met up with my group every morning to
discuss our research projects. These morning
sessions were also very enriching as we learnt
about the other techniques that others were doing
in their labs. At the end of the week, all the
participating teachers had a chance to share
their experiences. An interesting point to note
is that some mentors will continue to aid the
teachers throughout the year by giving talks in
the schools on new techniques etc.  
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute
Some of the Labs we did
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The research lab I was attached to.
My poster presentation
Some models we made to illustrate certain
science concepts.