Resources for Teachers and Technicians
We are pleased to provide a range of resources to support you in your participation in ABE. These include curriculum-aligned Teacher and Technician Guides and Student Guides, Health and Safety Guidance, PowerPoints, links to enrichment resources and videos.
Within our enrichment section you will find find articles about 23&me, assembly resources, gene-editing CRISPR Cas9 resources, and activities such as suncatchers (micropipetting) and orangutan (KS3) and restriction mapping. You will also find various DNA fingerprinting resources from the Scottish Initiative for Biotechnology Education (SIBE). ABE UK is most grateful to colleagues at the University of Edinburgh who have shared the SIBE resources with us. They were originally developed as a series of alternative scenarios for presenting DNA Fingerprinting activities to students by SIBE. Please note the scenarios are based on the use of a BioRad DNA Fingerprinting kit, so some thought is required in terms of mimicking these results alongside the ABE lab (for example, DNA sample 2 is unlikely to give the same outcome in both experiments) but the scene setting and ideas may prove stimulating.
Our protocols are approved by CLEAPSS (as per the H&S form) and we encourage all schools following biotechnology practicals in their classrooms to refer directly to the CLEAPSS guidance. https://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resource-Info/G272-Gene-technology-A-starter-guide-to-health-and-safety.aspx. Note that access to this document sits behind the CLEAPSS paywall, please do check with your school or college as to CLEAPSS membership, most schools in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are members directly or through their local authority. If you're unsure, you can email membership@cleapss.org.uk with your school name and postcode to verify your membership status. CLEAPSS provides support and advice to teachers, technicians, head teachers and governors/trustees on how best to use high quality practical work to support pupils learning in science, design & technology, food and art & design. Our Health and Safety guidance section includes information sheets on all reagents and consumables you are likely to encounter while completing the ABE labs.
We also encourage you to register with and explore LabXchange - a free science education platform created at Harvard University with support from the Amgen Foundation. The LabXchange platform was created to give students around the world the best possible science learning experience and to provide the opportunity to better understand the role of science in society. This includes access to skills-based science education resources, personalised instruction, next-generation virtual lab experiences, and networking opportunities across the global scientific community. View a video overview of LabXchange. LabXchange are seeking experienced science teachers and technicians to train to become LabXchange Teacher Ambassadors and Master Teacher Ambassadors to help them develop resources on their platform for the community. If you are interested in this opportunity, get in touch directly with Andrew at LabXxchange. For an introduction to the LabXchange platform for virtual science learning, please view the LabXchange Teacher Resources page, the LabXchange Subjects page, or the LabXchange Get Started page. Also, see the new LabXchange supplement.
