Maine Bioscience Day takes place in middle schools across the state of Maine in early November. It is a means of bringing life science industries into the classrooms to promote science as a subject and show students that the bioscience companies in Maine are viable future workplaces. The James F. Doughty School was able to expose nine grade 7 life science classes as well as an after-school grade 8 science fair session to three different presenters.
The first three classes of the day got to Meet Ms. Lillian Bowen from Nelson Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Ms. Bowen discussed the importance of sticking with science and explained all the ways to be involved with science. She also led a fruit DNA extraction activity with the students. The next three classes met with Mr. Pullagura and Ms. Dwyer from Jackson Laboratories. These two focused on the importance of science in middle and high school and then staying and working in Maine. They also discussed some of the unique work being done at Jackson Lab.
The last three grade 7 classes and the grade 8 after school experience was run by Ms. Markovich a marine biologist at MDI Biological Laboratories. She talked about her path of how she turned her childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist into a career. Ms. Markovich also brought zebrafish, sea urchins, and axolotls and talked about how scientist use these organisms to model human processes.
Overall the day was a great experience for the students and teachers. JFDS looks forward to participating annually in the program.
