Learning by doing: scholastic partners develop essential skills in Discover Now

Teachers from five schools convened on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, USA, for a fun and exciting week of instruction in experimental protocols and data interpretation. This marked the second week of orientation to the theory and practice of Stan-X programs and curricula. This included partners and instructors from the Lawrenceville School, Albuquerque Academy (New Mexico), Commack High School (New York), Latin School (Chicago, Illinois),  and Stanford University. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, three instructors from another partner school, the Haileybury School (U.K.) deferred their in-person training until next summer.

End of the week smiles: group selfie on the last day of Discover Now

This in-person training immediately followed a prior week of online orientation and meetings covering the genetics, molecular biology and cell biology underlying the Stan-X fruit fly curriculum.

Discover Now faculty, Nicole Lantz, Elizabeth Fox, and Lutz Kockel met daily with instructors for an intensive immersion in fly husbandry, molecular biology, bio-informatics, dissections, microscopy and tissue handling. These approaches will be the backbone of course instruction and student activities in the Stan-X courses developed at these partner schools. Stephanie Good, from the Albuquerque Academy (New Mexico) reflected that “the Discover Now program was extremely helpful! The instructors were knowledgeable and patient,  and I am looking forward to sharing this experience with my students.”

Stephanie Good practices larval dissections and tissue mounting for microscopy.

Discover Now attendees lodged in a hotel, within easy walking distance of the Lawrenceville School. They had meals provided by the program, giving them a chance to experience fare from local restaurants. During mid-day breaks from lab work, teachers explored the environs, including walks and runs along the Lawrenceville-Hopewell trail. Participants also explored The Lawrenceville School's Big Red Farm, taking in the solar field and vegetable plots, feeding the pigs, and observing the sheep herds, and the apiary. Evenings out in town allowed teachers to develop connections and to network. 

In addition to the lab-based work, materials, discussion and advice were provided on space allocation, practical issues in fruit fly intercrosses, maintenance and larval biology, preparation of instructional materials and safe laboratory procedures. The environment and esprit de corps generated productive networking interactions between new Stan-X partners, features that will be fostered through year-long mentoring and meetings provided by Dr. Kockel (Stanford) and other Discover Now instructors.

Robert Smullen from the Commack High School (New York) summarized his experience: “Stan-X’s fantastic teacher development course is intense, covering a mindboggling amount of material over the five days... but it was super rewarding. The instructors for the course were informative and patient, reminding me of some of the best teachers I have had over my career. The time I invested in the five-day intense training has given information and skills that I will be use years from now.”

For information about Discover Now in 2022, please contact Nicole Lantz at the Lawrenceville School, nlantz@lawrenceville.edu