[Histonet] kids and histology

[Linda Jenkins]

Dear Tere,
         I just finished doing tours for 80 eight grade girls to spark an 
interest in science and engineering.      I found that almost all the girls 
watched a program called C.S.I. (Crime Scene Investigation).  This program 
is quite the in thing with young people.  Capitalizing on that show, I 
proceeded to take some cantaloupe "fixed" in ethanol and tell the girls 
that the lab had received a mysterious specimen from our university mascot 
(a Tiger...orange parts, you see) and we needed to find out what had 
happened to our Tiger.  The girls drew a number out of the hat and the 
winner got to embed a piece of the Tiger and section an already embedded 
portion of Tiger/cantaloupe (closely supervised by me...of course).  I also 
had embedded a goodly number of "tiger" tissue so they each got to take a 
piece of the Tiger home with them.
         Of course, this would be for middle school and up.  There are all 
sorts of non biohazardous fruits and veggies that work quite well for show 
and tell.  All you need is your imagination!  Now I'm working on trying to 
stage a mock crime scene where we find some tissue and have to rush it 
through the lab.
         The response has been an overwhelming success!
         Have fun!
         Linda

Linda Jenkins, HT
Clemson University
Dept. of Bioengineering
Clemson, SC 29634-0905
864.656.5553
http://www.ces.clemson.edu/bio/research/histo/histo.htm