From July 30 to August 3, TCU worked with Hualien Senior High School and Hualien Girls’ Senior High School, to sponsor a summer science camp, “Let’s play with Biology,” and this is the second year that three schools worked together on this project. A total of 40 high school students attended. The lesson plans were developed jointly by TCU’s faculty members from the Department of Life Sciences and the Department of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. The courses expanded participants’ viewpoints from microscopic to macroscopic, and led them from the subjects of natural sciences to the environment, social sciences, and humanistic culture; thus, they gained deeper understanding about the origin of living organisms and learned their missions.
This five day program covered “Microscope and Biological Research,” “Observation of Mutant Strains of Arabidopsis Thaliana,” “The Aquaculture Crisis in Taiwan,” “DNA Paternity Testing and Genetic Fingerprinting,” “Butterflies,” and poster and oral presentations. TCU’s faculty members and staff worked closely with teachers of the two high schools beforehand, and came up with ways for participants to enjoy their learning, such as performing lab work, learning instrument operation, gaining from a seminar, and doing a group project, by helping and appreciating each other’s innovations.
Professor Jui-Hung Yen, Dean of the Office of Academic Affairs, gave welcoming remarks, and encouraged participants to learn from each other, to gain firsthand experience by using their hands, to communicate with each other, and broaden their thinking.
“Are you able to stand the taste of bitterness? It has something to do with your genes.” Professor Yung-Hao Ching told participants that 16% of us are insensitive to the taste of bitterness, as a result of errors during DNA replication or other types of damage to DNA. Some people are indifferent to the taste of bitterness, yet others are sensitive, and this has everything to do with their genes. So, if there is something which tastes bitter, don’t force anyone to eat it.
The high school students experienced DNA extraction and genetic fingerprinting, firsthand, with the assistance of TCU’s faculty members and staff. Students put 5ml of their saliva into centrifuge tubes, and went through the entire centrifugation process, including polymerase chain reaction and agarose gel electrophoresis, before obtaining their genetic fingerprints.
These participants had acquired the basic concepts and fundamental knowledge in their biology classes, yet due to their schools’ teaching approaches and lack of fine facilities, they didn’t have chances to experience lab work. But, they had plenty of time and abundant resources here, and thus they learned more about biology and genetics.
Qiau-Yu Ye is an eleventh grader from Hualien Girls’ High School, and her hometown is Yuli. Qiau-Yu loves biology and wished to make good use of this summer, so she decided to attend the camp. Qiau-Yu was happy the program had refreshed the knowledge of biology she had studied, and enhanced her learning through action. Consequently, she was very impressed and learned a lot.
On the last day, participants were required to give both poster and oral presentations. Most of them had never taken part in a science exhibition before, so they didn’t know how to make formal presentations. Yet, they learned how to inspire each other among their group members to come up with a presentation subject and context, although it was a big challenge to them. This camp enabled Hualien’s high school students to know more about a university’s learning environment, and how college students acquire their skills and knowledge from their studies and research endeavors. This program inspired these high school students to be more interested in learning biology.