C. A. Johnson Teacher Attends Princeton University Summer Institute

Chanda Jefferson, a science teacher at C. A. Johnson High School, was one of only 20 educators worldwide selected to attend a special institute at Princeton University this summer. The goal of the institute, offered through a partnership between the Molecular Biology Department at Princeton University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is to help educators bring cutting-edge molecular biology into their classrooms and inspire students to pursue career opportunities in science.

“This was truly the experience of a lifetime,” said Jefferson, “and I will utilize all the resources and techniques I learned at Princeton University to enhance my students ‘real-world’ application of molecular biology in the classroom.”

The summer institute was designed to give teachers hands-on laboratory experiences and tools to make a major impact in their own classrooms and schools. Jefferson and other teachers used sophisticated techniques and equipment to perform procedures such as bacterial transformation and DNA analysis. Teachers also tested foods for genetic modifications and even analyzed their own DNA fingerprints from cheek cell samples.

During the school year, Princeton will lend teachers or their schools the equipment they will need, at no cost, to conduct the same experiments their teachers performed at the institute this summer.

A highlight of the institute for Jefferson was the opportunity to interact with leading molecular biology researchers from around the world. Teachers had lunchtime discussions with Princeton professors, including a Nobel laureate.  Professor Fred Hughson, the director of the program, said, “Teachers selected for the institute will bring a great deal of this excitement back to their classrooms in the fall, and with it, new skills that can make a major, long-term difference on the science they teach their students.”