Activity #3: CRISPR Biology Lab
In spring 2018, I participated in a CIRTL course called "Integrating Effective Teaching and Assessment Practices in Biology Lab Courses by Case Studies" to learn more about implementing active learning in biology lab courses. Due to the structure of my graduate program, we do not have the opportunity to formally teach a laboratory section, so I participated in the course to learn from others' experiences using active learning in lab courses. Since the culminating project of the course was to create a lab, I chose to collaborate with the lecturer in our department who runs the undergraduate laboratory course. It just so happened that he was interested in developing a lab in which undergraduates would get practice in the genetic engineering technology CRISPR. I had taught it in my Exploring Biology unit, so it was a perfect fit. The goal of the lab I created was for students to be able to apply their knowledge of the technology in a variety of ways-- a paper model, designing gRNAs and through conducting a lab experiment. Students then reflect through a series of questions to guide their understanding. This allowed students to gain practice in a variety of ways to help them see how this complicated technique interacts and works.
Example of 2-Dimensional Models
Reflection
In graduate school, I never had the opportunity to teach a laboratory course because our TA appointment was required to be one of the introductory genetics lecture courses. Our department is well funded thanks to a NIH training grant, so very few students TA outside of that requirement, even if they are interested in teaching. After teaching Exploring Biology, I was interested in learning how to incorporate active learning in laboratory course setting versus in a seminar-style class. This led me in spring 2018 to enroll in a CIRTL course "Integrating Effective Teaching and Assessment Practices in Biology Lab Courses by Case Studies". The end goal of the course was to develop a biology lab using the techniques described in the class. Therefore, I collaborated with the professor who runs the undergraduate genetics lab for our department, Dr. Kit Tillman, to develop a lab on CRISPR-Cas9 in yeast. CRISPR stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats", and is a biological system found in bacteria that scientists have manipulated to use for genetic engineering. I happened to collaborate on a small part of my Exploring Biology unit with another Delta intern working on incorporating a CRISPR unit in an undergraduate genetic engineering course, so it was a great fit. I implemented the paper model that the intern created for his class with his permission, and then expanded the lesson to have the students apply the concept, both abstractly and in a lab setting.
Although I have yet to see the lab in action, I got great feedback from others about the lab when presenting it to others in the CIRTL course. People liked the various different ways that students worked with CRISPR and thought it was cool that students were actually able to try the method themselves since it is a "hot" topic in science right now. Many felt this would be a lab students would be excited to try. If I were to alter the lab in any way, I think it could help if we had the students repeat part 2, but actually "design" guide RNAs for ADE2, the gene being knocked out in part 3 of the lab. Another thing that could be cool is trying CRISPR under different conditions for the yeast and having students examine those results. Overall I enjoyed my experience in the course and developing the lesson, and hopefully will get to see it in action sometime soon.
Although I have yet to see the lab in action, I got great feedback from others about the lab when presenting it to others in the CIRTL course. People liked the various different ways that students worked with CRISPR and thought it was cool that students were actually able to try the method themselves since it is a "hot" topic in science right now. Many felt this would be a lab students would be excited to try. If I were to alter the lab in any way, I think it could help if we had the students repeat part 2, but actually "design" guide RNAs for ADE2, the gene being knocked out in part 3 of the lab. Another thing that could be cool is trying CRISPR under different conditions for the yeast and having students examine those results. Overall I enjoyed my experience in the course and developing the lesson, and hopefully will get to see it in action sometime soon.