From using slugs to teach the scientific method to doing math with M&Ms, 34 middle-school and high school biology teachers acquired a slew of science-teaching strategies this summer while attending the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers (CIBT). And the teachers didn't pay a dime for either the training or housing in Cornell's residence halls.

The hands-on workshops (July 6-9 for middle school teachers and July 12-24 for the biology teachers) are funded by Cornell and grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the New York State Center for Advanced Technology.

"These workshops bring teachers together every summer to experience recent updates in biology and to promote interactions between teachers and Cornell scientists," said Jeff Doyle, professor of plant biology and principal investigator of the grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) that has funded CIBT (and the Cornell Research Scholars undergraduate programs) for 19 years.

The teachers were provided with a host of hands-on labs, field experiences, lectures and visits to research labs. The teachers learned about immunology, ecology, genetics, reproduction, Earth science, botany, math, cell biology and the scientific method.

"The high school teachers [also] were treated to a visit to research labs in the new Weill Hall, where Jonathan Butcher and his lab showed them a visible living embryo culture system they use to learn about heart development," said Laurel Southard, who Doyle called the "creative force" behind CIBT. Southard is director of Undergraduate Biology Research and of the Cornell Hughes grant at Cornell.

"The teachers also were trained to participate in a research project being carried out in partnership with another HHMI-funded program at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.," she added.

During the academic year, their students will collect insects and determine, through molecular identification, if the insects are infected with the bacteria Wolbachia pipentis that infects arthropods. If the students find infected insects, the DNA is sent to the Marine Biology Lab for sequencing and inclusion in a dataset that tracks the infection.

The teachers also used DNA technology to solve a paternity case, and protein gel electrophoresis of muscle proteins to establish evolutionary relationships among organisms, Southard said.

She said that the workshops give teachers an opportunity to share activities and talk about how to better teach the topics discussed. "In effect, the workshops become a think tank for new curriculum development," she said.

Teachers who complete these workshops receive access to CIBT's extensive lending library, where they can borrow equipment and materials necessary to perform expensive molecular biology labs in their classrooms.

In addition, CIBT is hosting some of its alumni July 28-31 for a workshop on reproduction, "The Birds Do It. The Bees Do It. Why Even Bacteria Do It!," to examine reproduction in such biological organisms as bacteria, plants, fruit flies, humans, unusual animals and even spiders. The workshop will feature talks by a number of Cornell faculty members who conduct research in reproduction, as well as a demonstration of several activities developed by Cornell faculty members.