Hands-on way to learn about DNA

SINGAPORE — It was almost like a scene out of the popular United States television series Crime Scene Investigation: For two to three hours last Tuesday, a group of 40 St Patrick’s School students donned white lab coats and took up the role of forensic investigators as they analysed artificial Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) samples to solve a murder case.

They were attending classes conducted by the Science Centre Singapore’s DNA Learning Lab, where students from primary and secondary schools as well as junior colleges learn about DNA through stories, historic events and mock crime scenes.

Associate Professor Lim Tit Meng, Chief Executive at the Science Centre, said: “If you look at the way science is learned and communicated, there is now a trend (to do so through) storytelling.”

When the programme was started a decade ago, the learning facility offered basic classes on molecular biology — how to identify DNA bands, for example, recalled Assoc Prof Lim. But the science enrichment programme has since “evolved” , with a curriculum that tries to keep up with the changes in the education system.

For example, Assoc Prof Lim, who also sits on the Ministry of Education’s biology curriculum review committee, noted that schools have been moving towards applied learning in science. Such an approach can be found in practical classes offered by the learning facility, such as a two-day workshop where junior college students will be able to clone DNA fragments — something which they previously only learned about in textbooks.

The lab was a finalist at this year’s Singapore Experience Awards organised by the Singapore Tourism Board. Into their fifth year, the awards recognise business, product and service excellence. The lab won the Best Enrichment Experience award last year.

Annually, about 26,000 students visit the DNA Learning Lab. Over the last four years, an average of about 120 schools have signed up for these classes every year.

At the lab, primary school students can, among other things, observe cells under microscopes and try their hand at DNA extraction. Secondary school students are taught micro-pipetting techniques — to pick up liquid samples — and how to use gel electrophoresis to separate DNA strands.

For junior college students, practical classes such as extracting the biological material from cheek cells were designed to complement their learning in topics such as the isolation of DNA.

Ms Chen Li Yan, a senior biology teacher at St Patrick’s School, said that, through the learning facility, her lower secondary students were able to get an early introduction to a more in-depth study of DNA — a subject typically taught at the upper secondary levels.

The teacher added: “It’s something really different from what they usually do in a normal school science laboratory setting ... coming to a fully equipped life science lab. It gives them greater exposure.”

Her Secondary 1 student Akshith Krishna said he enjoyed the classes. “After I started learning about cells, I’ve always wanted to learn more about DNA, but I couldn’t find much information online. Here, I was even able to learn separation techniques for DNA,” he said.