Teachers without Borders

ACDB hosts DNA barcoding workshop for Life Sciences Teachers

The African Centre for DNA Barcoding in partnership with the Faculty of Education at the University of the North-West hosted a two-day workshop (28 and 29 March 2022) on DNA barcoding. The initiative, established several years ago, is an ongoing effort to enhance Life Science education in the classroom. Through exposing in-service educators to the core principles and processes of the DNA barcoding method, coupled with insights of technological advances, the ultimate goal is to provide a platform within the classroom to inspire the pupils to peruse a future in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) field. Research shows that educators with an increased understanding of laboratory protocol, have a greater influence on their pedagogical orientations and pedagogies in the classroom. Further,  research from this initiative has shown that such experiences for educators lead to more inquiry approaches in the classroom.

The value of such interventions is that educators develop awareness and nuanced understandings of the impact of science in society, and the nature (tenets) of the natural sciences.

Positive feedback has been received from the cohort of teachers. One teacher commented, ‘I was feeling happy, I was excited to work with all the apparatus, and for me it was an experience. Once you like something, you are more interested in it. If we take it to the NS classroom, learners would be interested more in the subject because now they go to the classroom, we talk theory, and they do not know how to apply it in real life.’ She further emphasised the following in the post-questionnaire that they completed: ‘after the experience of using laboratory equipment at the African Centre for DNA Barcoding (ACDB) I think I have gained a lot of lab skills.’ This teacher's experience at the African Centre for DNA Barcoding was a beautiful one. For instance, in the focus group interview the teacher made the following remark ‘it was fun, we learned new things. I cannot wait to go back to the classroom and share the information which I have learned’.

Written by Ryan Rattray