Seventh-Graders Learn a Lesson in Zombie Outbreak and Other Science Fun

In a collaborative effort to make science exciting, Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus and neighbors in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center opened their doors and labs to seventh-grade students for a fun-filled, educational day of science and medicine Friday. 

About 700 students from Earle B. Wood Middle School in Rockville and Roberto W. Clemente Middle School in Germantown were expected to attend the 6th annual Frontiers in Science and Medicine Day.

Students spent part of the day at Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus, participating in hands-on science and medicine activities. The activities were run by local science research organizations, museums and colleges, according to a press release from JHU.

Students also got to visit either a local laboratory or hospital so they could experience what doctors and scientists do each day. Lab activities included viewing brain specimen under a microscope; learning how DNA is used in forensics; watching mosquitoes feed on blood to learn about malaria; and learning about proper techniques for making intravenous preparations.

The JHU Biotechnology team conducted an exercise called “Disease Detectives: Zombie Outbreak.” As the students learn about how diseases spread, the instructor talked to them about the Ebola situation.

Lab tours were scheduled to be held at BioReliance; Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute; Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research; J. Craig Venter Institute; Johns Hopkins University Wet Lab; NIH Chemical Genomics Center; Sanaria; Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center; the University of Maryland School of Nursing; and the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

Others participants in the event are Johns Hopkins University Center for Biotechnology Education; Salisbury University; Rockville Science Center; MdBio Foundation; Qiagen; Montgomery College; Vaxin; and MedImmune.

MCPS TV captured the story in this MCPS Moment.

About Krista Brick

Krista Brick is a multi-media journalist with Montgomery Community Media.

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