Mars Area students put science theory into practice

Posted: Published on December 20th, 2014

This post was added by Dr P. Richardson

About three dozen advanced-placement biology students at Mars Area High School got to process strands of their own DNA at the University of Pittsburgh, starting with a cheek swab and ending with a DNA profile.

We never did the whole process start-to-finish (in class), said junior Jared Wojcikiewicz. It shows just how much hard work this is.

Mars biology teacher Bill Wesley said he has been bringing students to Pitt for at least 15 years through an outreach program, run by the university's biology department, which works to connect local school districts with the science community.

It's an awesome experience for them, he said.

Students spent Wednesday morning taking DNA samples from their cheeks and amplifying them through a process that generates millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence. Students then use a type of gel, which separates the components of the DNA.

It definitely makes it easier for them to comprehend, Wesley said. You can talk about it until you're blue in the face, but until you actually do it then it's like, Aha.'

Students isolate one band of their DNA. Crime-scene investigators generally isolate nine to 15 bands when doing crime-scene analysis.

These students know a lot, but until they get in there and do the actual process, it's not real, said Becky Gonda, a Pitt biology outreach coordinator, who taught the activity. It never gets old to see them get excited.

Wesley agreed.

It's a lot of work to arrange this, he said. But I get recharged seeing what they've learned. They're not just learning theory, but they're showing what they learned.

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Mars Area students put science theory into practice

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