BioLAB recently had the pleasure of hosting our first in a series of Teacher Professional Development Workshops in Genetic Screening and Immunology. We ran this workshop in partnership with one of our fellow Science and Mathematics Specialist Centres, The Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC). This workshop was attended by teachers from Geelong and surrounding areas and focused on providing VCE Biology teachers with confidence and real life applications in “hard to teach” areas of the VCE Biology curriculum.
To begin the day Dr. James Rooke, a researcher from Deakin University, spoke of the new biotechnology equipment that is be installed at the university and how this will improve research outcomes. BioLAB then presented a workshop that demonstrated how teachers can use results from a genetic screening activity to enhance year 11 students understanding of inheritance. To conclude the day teachers participated in a hands on immunology workshop presented by GTAC.
Feedback from the day was all positive with teachers indicating that hearing from a Deakin researcher, being “hands on” with cutting edge biotechnology equipment and being supplied with ready to use resources as highlights.
We are planning on running further Professional Development Workshops with a focus on VCE Biology in our 2018 series. To receive emails with details of PD sessions please register your interest with our Bookings Administration Officer at (admin@biolab.vic.edu.au)
