The Teach Lab component of the UW IMSD Program demonstrates that the science lab is among the “richest experiences students can have at the University. It is one of the few opportunities students have to practice science in a similar way that professionals do.”
For students in Teach Lab, not only does the instructor demonstrate how to do the experiment, he or she helps them realize its importance and how it improves their understanding of concepts and processes. The Teach Lab informs students about basic laboratory techniques, including, but not limited to: solutions, gels, blots, cultures, DNA, ELISA assays and the development/maintenance of a lab notebook. Participants also tour active University and industry research laboratories.
Quotes from students regarding Teach Lab:
“We kind of learned a little bit more about ourselves. For me, I wasn’t considering research before, so now I’m considering doing research next summer, maybe going to graduate school and getting my PhD, so it’s a good learning experience for the future.”
“I learned a lot about the scientific community…what’s holding us back…the privatization of the research sector and why we haven’t had any big biological advancements in the past 20 years, and it all has to do with funding and especially about people and their ideologies, and just even in our lab…there are certain people who kind of think they know a lot and sometimes it is hard to open up and accept that you don’t know as much you think you know, and knowing that you are going to be wrong more times than right- that was a pretty awesome realization.”
“The discussions are beneficial; they are actually made so that you can open your mind to a world bigger than yourself, because …a lot of people will go into [a discussion] and give their personal opinion. You have to know — on a more worldly scale — what is important; it’s about looking beyond ourselves.”
IMSD Teach Lab is a ten week summer program, June 24 – August 30, 2013. It has laboratory positions for students interested in a biomedical research internship experience. IMSD students are on the University of Washington payroll.
All students must have successfully completed one year of undergraduate studies including at least one year–long series in calculus or science with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The IMSD Program focuses its resources on under–represented (i.e., African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Mexican American) students that are US citizens or permanent residents, however no student will be denied the opportunity to apply to or participate in the program.