PHOTOS: Teachers Learn CSI-Type Techniques

A science classroom was transformed into a mini crime lab Thursday so that a group of biology teachers could receive training in techniques commonly used in law enforcement.

Montclair State biology professor Sandra Adams instructed teachers in the use of Polymerase Chain Reaction, a technique employed by criminologists and research scientists to replicate a tiny piece of DNA -- like might be found at a crime scene – so it can be tested and used in a myriad of experiments. 

One such use of PCR is DNA fingerprinting. In DNA fingerprinting, forensic scientists take a small piece of DNA, run it in PCR to produce multiple copies, chop it up using a restriction digest and then try to match the prints with existing prints to find the criminal.

Fair Lawn Schools science supervisor Ron Durso said the teachers would incorporate what they learned from the training into their classes, so that all high school biology students would be exposed to the molecular biology techniques. 

“For the past five, six years students have been taught about this content,” he said, “but I’d like it to be more consistent across the department -- all the students actually doing the experiments. This enables the teachers to have the confidence to perform the experiments with students.”

Thursday’s training program was fully funded through a $2,000 professional development grant awarded to Adams and Durso by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 

In his capacity as science supervisor, Durso has forged a relationship between Fair Lawn High School and Montclair State through Adams, one of his former professors. 

“[Adams] found the grant was available, and came to me and asked if there were any professional development needs at the high school,” Durso said. “We put our heads together and came up with an update in molecular biology techniques, because many of the techniques have just come about in the last five to 10 years.”

When the teachers are ready to employ what they’ve learned in their own classroom, Adams will return to the high school and co-teach their first lesson with them. She’s also offered to provide continued email support back and forth with teachers beyond the first lesson if they have follow-up questions.

Next year, Durso is hoping the high school will be able to offer an entire research-based biology course, taught in tandem with a local college professor -- possibly Adams -- that would allow AP biology students to conduct actual research using PCR and other experimental lab techniques.

He said the course's offering is dependent on the number of students who register and the number of teachers available to teach it.