Access Excellence - A Web Site for High School Biology Teachers
If you are a high school biology teacher or even a college instructor, it is likely that you are
looking for some innovative ideas to creatively teach your students. Or perhaps you wish to
know what other methods teachers around the country are using to teach the polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) technique, dinosaur paleontology or genetic counseling. Then a visit to "Access
Excellence" site on the world wide web on the Internet (http://www.gene.com/ae/) is in order.
Access Excellence is an educational network funded by Genentech, Inc., the biotechnology
company, which brings together many high school biology teachers from around the country
and provides them with valuable resources to share ideas for innovative instruction including
articles on class room exercises, profiles on scientists, graphics and information on biotechnology
education and career resources.
Be sure to visit the "Activities Exchange" section where the favorite class room activities of high
school teachers (along with pictures of these teachers) from around the country are posted on
topics such as antibiotic production, bioethics, transgenics (can some one make a cow that
produces chocolate milk?), using jewelry to teach DNA codon usage, Genes-R-Us (on genetic
counseling), "Transcription-Translation Tango" to teach the intricacies of protein synthesis, and
many other gems. A hot link to the "DNA Learning Center" of the Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory lets you learn the use of PCR to estimate gene frequencies with Alu markers. In the
"Activities-To-Go" section, there are text and graphics files on many interesting subjects such as
DNA sequencing, DNA fingerprinting, AIDS, Jurassic Park Study Guide and scientific clip art.
An in-depth look at biotechnology can be found at the "About Biotech" section, which has
narratives on the history of biotechnology and its current applications in farming, medicine and
the environment. My favorite part here is the "Pioneer Profiles" which has brief biographies of
scientific luminaries such as Barbara McClintock, James Watson, Kary Mullis and Linus Pauling.
"The Story of DNA" has a lucid chronicle of the discovery of the structure of DNA. The rich
hypertext format is used throughout the site and these hot links lets you jump around related
topics. For instance, while reading about "PCR", you can jump to "Kary Mullis", its discoverer
and then to "DNA" and so on. An interview with Dr. Francis Crick, the co-discover of DNA
structure is a 'must-visit' page of the Access Excellence. The Human Genome Project and many
of its ethical issues receive considerable attention at various locations in the Access Excellence.
The "Career Center" provides you with addresses of various biotechnology related institutions
around the country and descriptions of several careers in biotechnology. Addresses of
institutions providing higher education in biotechnology in all 50 states of U. S. can also be
found here.
A visit to the "Teachers Lounge" lets you listen to the discussions among teachers where you can
also post messages. The "Teacher-Scientist" Network has eminent scientists delivering on-line
seminars on specific topics such as the current one "Microbial Fermentation-Changing the Course
of Human History". The "Graphics Gallery" has an excellent downloadable collection of cartoons
and diagrams that are useful in teaching varied topics such as chromosome crossing over, DNA
restriction digestion, PCR, transgenic mice and viral replication. The "What's News" contains
science news, interviews with scientists, factoids and information on science programs in
television, radio and the Internet.
Whether you are a novice or a professional in biotechnology, the Access Excellence on the web
is bound to interest you and deserves a bookmark in your browser for repeat visits.
C. S. Prakash
Center for Plant Biotechnology Research
Tuskegee University
Prakash at Acd.Tusk.Edu
