I spent the first part of my morning in the engineering and design lab with high school students who were working on their second semester projects. One was designing in 3D for fabrication, another was pouring silicone to make a mold and many were soldering circuit boards. Next, it was off to meet with our 4th grade students who had been studying bacteria. As part of their microbiology unit they compared the effectiveness of several household cleaners in reducing the amount of bacteria on a surface. They swabbed surfaces before and after treatment with a given cleaner, incubated their agar plates overnight and counted the CFUs (colony forming units) that had grown. They analyzed the data

I spent the first part of my morning in the engineering and design lab with high school students who were working on their second semester projects. One was designing in 3D for fabrication, another was pouring silicone to make a mold and many were soldering circuit boards.    Next, it was off to meet with our 4th grade students who had been studying bacteria. As part of their microbiology unit they compared the effectiveness of several household cleaners in reducing the amount of bacteria on a surface. They swabbed surfaces before and after treatment with a given cleaner, incubated their agar plates overnight and counted the CFUs (colony forming units) that had grown. They analyzed the

This past week several students had the opportunity to visit Dr. Ward, a surgeon who specializes in breast surgery/surgical oncology. During our time with Dr. Ward she shared her story – how did she decide to become a surgeon? Why breast surgery? What was her biggest challenge? What did she study in college? It was a candid and honest conversation.   She introduced us to a couple of her colleagues, a radiologist and a medical oncologist who explained their role in patient treatment. So, what can a small group of high school girls learn from spending just a bit of time with women (and men) working in a STEM field? A lot! On our way back to campus we talked about the commitment, dedication and

Trends in STEM and Trends in Fashion. Today we move into our new mircrobiology lab! We are wearing our favorite sneakers.....#lovingthesneakertrend #girlsinstem #fashionandsciencetogether #ibelonghere stemtrends001 from GAINS Network on Vimeo.

  I'm Ann! I teach science, love STEM topics and am the director of the GAINS Initiative.  My love of science stared in high school biology class - I loved the cell!   I studied biology and chemistry and then genes that regulate cell division.  I have been teaching high school for almost 20 years. This picture is of the PCR machine I built  @ the WAAG in Amsterdam this summer! I think biohacking is cool.  Hope to hear from you soon.