Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Second Classroom Visit

After the excitement of the field trip, each group had a follow-up visit with their 5th grade classroom for a quiz bowl. Each group of undergraduates developed five Jeopardy! style questions about a relevant topic: ELISA, ecosystems, water pollution, and pesticides. Sample questions included “Antibodies are shaped like this letter” and “These samples help a scientist make sure an experiment is working properly.” 

The undergraduates took turns posing questions to the 5th graders, and Bridget and Ms. Marian Kanipes ran the Powerpoint display of the game.
Charnell, Jacqui, Shaylon, and Julalak lead the game in Ms. Kanipes' classroom.

Bridget runs the technology in Ms. Crutchfield's classroom.
Fifth grade coordinator, Ms. Marian Kanipes, was a gracious collaborator who kept us on track!
 The students worked in teams with pairs of classrooms competing against each other. The students were impressive in their ability to work together in large groups! Each classroom had a spokesperson to relay their final answer to the A&T student leaders.



Every student received some candy at the end, and the winning teams received prizes donated by the Louis Stokes Minority Alliance Partnership (LSAMP) and Department of Energy and Environmental Systems at NCATSU. 
Shaylon distributes candy to participants in Ms. Kanipes' classroom.
Each of the two high scoring classes received a pouch from LSAMP, and the overall high scoring classroom received the book "Teacher in the Air" from the Department of Energy and Environmental Science at A&T
This second classroom visit was an exciting and satisfying end to our project that also helped solidify the 5th graders’ learning. It was great to realize how much the students had learned about chemistry, pesticides, and the ELISA method. You can see more pictures from this classroom visit here

I was able to return to Rankin for the 4th and 5th graders' science fair in December, and I am proud to have worked with these young scientists this semester. I want to close with a big thanks to my students, the Rankin staff and teachers, and the chemistry department at A&T for all their help making this project a success!

Field Trip, Part 2

Belatedly, here are more pictures from the 5th graders' field trip, featuring action shots of the students performing the ELISA and eating in the dining hall.

We had enough kits for the students to work in groups of 4, and enough volunteers from NCAT, UNC-CH, and Rankin for every group to have an adult supervisor.

 The students took turns adding reagents to the well plate, and with 11 different reagents everyone got plenty of opportunities to help! The A&T student leaders stressed good laboratory techniques, such as performing control experiments and wearing personal protective equipment -- in this case, the new neon goggles that each 5th grader got to keep.




 The 4 classrooms of 5th graders were split into two groups, so while half of the students were doing the experiment, the other half was enjoying lunch in the dining hall on campus. Lunch was a huge hit, as the students enjoyed picking out whatever they wanted from the numerous dining hall stations, including the dessert section.
 One Rankin student even had a sibling attending A&T who got to join the students for lunch!
 More pictures from the field trip can be viewed here.