Bringing the science of life to human health
Biochemistry is Elementary: Bringing the Science of Life to Human Health is an experiment-based, hands-on outreach program that introduces young students and people of all ages to basic biochemical concepts used by scientists and medical professionals.
The program has two prongs:
- engage middle school students with sessions in their schools and at Spur
- engage visitors and families to Spur on 2nd Saturdays
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The middle school program uses principles of authentic scientific research. It is comprised of six modules that progressively build on each other, with new material and applications being introduced in each module.
- Students develop a specific scientific question and hypothesis that can be easily tested.
- Students complete an experiment.
- Students analyze their results and assess whether their hypothesis was correct.
- If their hypothesis was incorrect, the students design a new hypothesis that fits their results.
- 2nd Saturday visitors are invited to complete the experiments themselves.
EXPERIMENTS
Collectively, the experiments introduce students to the scientific process, while demonstrating the following concepts:
- variation in human traits
- enzyme reactions with a human health application (lactose intolerance)
- growth requirements of the unicellular model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisae (baker’s yeast)
- isolation of DNA from human cells.
These experiments can be easily completed in a relatively short amount of time and introduce people of all ages and backgrounds to biochemistry and its application in improving human health.
Contact us
Email Catherine Radebaugh at catherine.radebaugh@colostate.edu with any questions.
