Governor's School for Science and Mathematics - Summer Science Program

Project Title: GSSM-SSP Follow-up Session(s) in Genetics

Program Director: Dr. Larry Lenard Lowe (Benedict College Campus Director)

Office: 101/201 Alumni Hall – Benedict College

Phone: (803)2 53-5265/5007

Fax: (803) 253-5336

E-Mail: lowe@microbyte.net

Sponsor: South Carolina's Governor's School for Science and Mathematics -  Hartsville, South Carolina

SUMMARY

The Governor's School for Science Program is an academic follow-up program to the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics Summer Science Program (GSSM-SSP). The Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) is a public, residential high school for academically advanced juniors and seniors located in Hartsville, SC.

 

The GSSM-SSP is a series of three one-week courses taught by various college and university professors. These courses include physics, calculus, cell biology, computer science, genetics, and ecology.  Dr. Larry L. Lowe has taught the genetics course for the GSSM-SSP since the summer of 1993.

 

The SSP in genetics is for rising 9th grade students.  The lecture/lab-based course is usually attended by 15 to 18 ninth grade participants. The course content includes topics and hands-on experiments involving:

  • Principles of Probability, Binominal Expansion and the Chi-Square Test
  • Isolation and analysis (agarose gel electrophoresis) of the genetic material – DNA
  • Polygenic Inheritance – Human Fingerprint Patterns and Total Ridge Count
  • Genetic Drift and Allele Fixation
  • Population Genetics – The Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Law

Students present the results of their experiments using standard scientific presentation and Power Point formats.

 

Academic-year follow-up activities include educational field trips to one of the following sites:

  • South Carolina Genetic Center and Laboratory, Greenwood, SC
  • South Carolina State Crime Lab, Columbia, SC
  • Riverbanks Zoo Endangered Animal Species Lecture and Exhibits, Columbia, SC
  • South Carolina Academy and Junior Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting

Transportation is provided from Benedict College to the specific field-trip activity and back.  Most field-trips are a one-day event.  Leaving around 6AM and returning by 7PM.  Field-trip participants are encouraged to bring along some spending change for lunch and souvenirs.

 

 

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY DR. LOWE BY LETTER DURING THE SPRING FOLLOWING THE SSP