Shark "Tadpole" Tank Genius Hour Proposals

Thank you to our parent and staff volunteers for both days of Shark Tank genius hour proposals! Students always benefit from being able to bounce ideas off each other and have the help of an adult to make connections, ask deeper questions, and to work through some kinks in their projects. We are excited to see where they take their research ideas next in the spring 2019! 

Extracting DNA from Strawberries!

Students learned about how DNA can be extracted from the fatty nuclear membrane of multiploidal strawberry cells. We crushed up the strawberries carefully in a ziploc baggie, added buffer solution (salt and water and soap-very scientific!), and then they slowly poured this mixture into a filtration setup (paper towel in a paper cup), and let it sit for 10 minutes or more. After that, they poured their solution into a test tube and I added ice cold isopropyl alcohol slowly to the tube and voila...This is what they saw! 

Cell Analogy Project Gallery Walk

    

Students worked hard on their cell analogy projects and did a great job!  The objective was for them to relate the organelles of either a plant or animal cell to the parts of a place or non-living object.  They needed to relate the function of each component to the organelles job within the cell. They took turns presenting them to each other in an "art gallery walk." This is one of their favorite ways to present to each other because they get to present to more people and in smaller groups.