Science + art + math = lab creativity

Before winter break, students in the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) course, Medical Interventions, participated in a lab workshop called Micropipette Art in order to get ready for an upcoming DNA microarray simulation. In this workshop, students needed to demonstrate their micropipetting skills by designing their own art project with specific criteria. They had to use three different color water droplets, use five different volumes staying within the range of 500-1000 microliters, and maintain a ‘drop register’ to keep track of their colors and volumes.

Lab workshops are common in the Medical Interventions course because they give students an opportunity to practice and fine-tune their motor skills when using delicate scientific equipment. So far this year, the biomed students completed workshops on micropipetting, growing bacteria, using the aseptic technique, and making agar for gel electrophoresis and Petri dishes.