The kickoff to the SEP program is the DNA Bootcamp that is held in June. All of the teachers that have been selected by their mentor research scientists convene at Fred Hutch for a day of orientation and training.
We were given an overview of the program, we got a chance to get acquainted with our corhort and we launched right into several labs that included: Strawberry DNA extraction lab (tbd), CPR2 (Concepts, Processes, Results, Reflection), Micropipetting lab: Measure for Measure (Connie Franks), Electrophoresis Exploration (Greg Ballog and Dawn Rubstello), The Dye/Indicator Lab – (Dawn and Greg).
After a very full day, we were escorted to the Amgen Surplus for a science supply giveaway. We each were given boxes to take whatever supplies, glassware, racks, etc...we thought we could use in our classrooms.
Later that day, we met with our science mentors in the Double Helix Café. This session included social and work time to begin planning and working out ideas for the summer research lab days and share your course syllabus with your mentor. Mentors brought introductory articles on their research for teachers as background reading.