Letters from ABE students! Would you like to see the effect of ABE practices on students aged between 8 and 12?

Gülhan GÜÇLÜ, ABE teacher from Körfez Science and Art Center (BİLSEM), one of our ABE practice schools, carried out the 2021-2022 academic year, second term practices with 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students. Students who performed DNA isolation and micropipette applications were asked to write a letter about their experiences in order to share the knowledge, skills, emotions and thoughts developed during the practices with their positive and negative aspects.

In accordance with the legal regulations, student names are not shared. Student names were removed from the letters. Spelling and punctuation errors made by students in language use have been corrected. Apart from these, the letters were shared as written by the students, without any changes. Here are the shared posts.

It was a little weird and a lot of fun. I wish I could go back to those memories.

"Hello dear reader or listener. In this letter, I will talk about high school experiments and activities that I did when I was in 5th grade. (Note: I'm still in 5th Grade). I started the process when Gülhan Güçlü, our teacher at BİLSEM in 5th grade, gave a course on genetic applications. Our teacher taught us to extract DNA. It was a little weird and a lot of fun. We also used a micropipette. It was so perfect. I wish I used more. Our teacher told us that we are the smallest group. High school students and 7th and 8th graders used to apply ABE. So it was a lot of fun. I wish I could go back to those memories. (Actually, I'm still in the 5th grade; don't understand me as an adult)."

I'm having the best genetic practice classes of my life thanks to you.

"I'm having the best genetic practice classes of my life thanks to you. For the first time in my life, I used a micropipette and extracted DNA. Using a micropipette was very nice. It was very strange to draw one-quarter of a drop. But the most fun was to extract DNA, that is, I saw DNA for the first time in my life and it was really fun and enjoyable. In my life, I have always been interested in biology and the cell, and thanks to you, I have studied them more closely. Thank you very much."

I learned a lot of new things about my body that I didn't know before.

"Dear ABE, It would not be an exaggeration to say very good things about this project. Now, we've extracted DNA twice. We used micropipette twice. We learned the values of genes in the body. We had an amazing time. I personally attended only to get documents, but I saw that we were not getting it. We were learning a lot. I learned a lot of new things about my body that I didn't know before. It made us more knowledgeable."

I didn't believe DNA would come out when I was extracting DNA, but it did.

"I'm going to 5th grade. My age is 10. I had some difficulty using the micropipette, but I was able to use it over time and I succeeded. I think I had a hard time because I was a little excited. I didn't believe DNA would come out when I was extracting DNA, but it did. I think what we do is a lot of fun. I think our genetics course is both fun and informative. I recommend the genetics course to everyone, it's a very nice experience."

I had the best science lessons of my life thanks to ABE.

"I had the best science lessons of my life thanks to ABE. If I don't become a physicist, I would love to progress in genetics because it is in your hands to change the fate of all humanity for the better with a gene study I have done. My favorite experiments are genetics, biology and DNA experiments. When we do the experiments, I feel like a successful scientist. I hope to become a scientist in the future. In my own class, I use the experiments and terms we use here, and I even got an award in my class thanks to scientific terms. I want to continue ABE science applications in high school."

I was not surprised to find such a beautiful and knowledgeable teacher in such a beautiful place.

"Hello, I am 9 years old. I'm going to class 3/A. I'm pretty good at DNA isolation. Thank you for the mistakes I made with the micropipette, our teacher Gülhan told me. I was not surprised to find such a beautiful and knowledgeable teacher in such a beautiful place."

It felt like I was doing something very important to humanity.

"When I first started this, I knew very little. After starting this project, my knowledge has increased even more. I really enjoyed making applications. I was very happy while making the applications. Until these applications are over, I always participate wherever they are. I think this project should continue. I took pride in making these applications. It felt like I was doing something very important to humanity. My biggest dream is to be a scientist. Therefore, this work must continue to the end. I really enjoyed using a micropipette. I am very happy when using it. Extracting DNA is a very good feeling. I had a lot of fun making these apps."

Genetics class is very good and it has a lot of benefits too.

"These experiments have had a lot of benefits. Genetics class is very good and it has a lot of benefits too. For example, DNA extraction, using a micropipette, stringing beads, they were all beautiful. So, I am very happy that I won BİLSEM and entered the genetics workshop."

When I grow up, I want to take such a fun class again.

"When I first came, I didn't know what genetics was. Then, over time, I learned about micropipettes and had a lot of fun. Then we extracted the DNA of the fruit and vegetable. I had a lot of fun, I'm happy. When I grow up, I want to take such a fun class again. Then we measured my fingers. I learned informative things. In short, I am very, very happy to have taken this course. I had so much fun."