Teachers Fish for DNA Markers and Reel in High School Students

NOAA Teachers Fish for DNA Markers and Reel in High School Students 

 Since 1990, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has hosted teachers through its Teacher at Sea program. The goal of the program is to give teachers research experience on vessels and in the lab where they learn about NOAA science and bring this knowledge to the classroom. Our teacher research experience, Teacher in the Field, is a branch of the Teacher at Sea program and introduces teachers to the conservation genetic research on Pacific salmon conducted by NOAA. The Teacher in the Field program ran for three weeks during the summer at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center’s, Mukilteo Field Station genetics lab where the teachers learned molecular DNA bench skills, data analysis, and collaborated on developing curriculum to be implemented in their classrooms. In this talk we present a progress report of the Teacher in the Field program after one year. Along with an overview of the program, teacher satisfaction, student response to the curriculum, and future directions will be presented.