After taking a week-long course through Cold Spring
Harbor over the summer, Mrs. Julia Johnson, EXCEL Coordinator at Islip Middle
School, led her 7th & 8th grade students through an exploration of DNA
Barcoding. 7th and 8th grade EXCEL
Students are fortunate to have the help of Scientist/Naturalist Brett
Curlew. Students pulled DNA samples from
Pardees Pond, located on IMS Campus, and have written full proposals for their
work.
There are two groups of students (self-entitled "Pond
Squad" and "Molecular Masters") and they are organizing their
research using the EXCEL Wiki website. (http://juliacjohnson.pbworks.com/w/page/108766153/DNA%20Barcoding) They are in the process of cataloging all of
their specimens and identifying samples using dichotomous keys. The process of extracting DNA will take a few
months.
The students work will culminate in a presentation of
their findings at the Open Space Stewardship Program Symposium at BNL later in the school year. Stay tuned our final work!
