Dave Mangus is a biotechnology teacher at Brockton High School in Brockton Massachusetts. This year Dave was named The Hall at Patriot Place presented by Raytheon Massachusetts STEM Teacher of the Year and presented with the The Ron Mardigian Biotechnology Teaching Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers. Dave earned these honors in part because he has created and leds a four-year non-vocational biotechnology pathway based on his background as research scientist and his educational experiences at Ohio Wesleyan University, Indiana University and UMass Medical School in Worcester. This program utilizes advanced technology in order to help students better understand principles in biochemistry, molecular biology, and molecular genetics. In their first two years, students explore fundamental biological concepts using an engineering perspective. Third year students explore chemistry with forensics as the focus. Seniors complete an original capstone research project. In addition to the biotechnology program, Dave advises two BioBuilder Club teams, an afterschool program based at MIT that introduces students to the field of synthetic biology. You can follow Dave and the happenings of the Brockton High School Biotechnology program on twitter @boxerbiotech.
Show Notes:
- Dave teaches in the City of Champions in a Colossal High School
- We got into a bit of a discussion of Educational Jargon and I don’t think that either of us were huge fans.
- Dave was happy to get have a student experience the Boston University GROW program
- Bay Path University has an amazing Career focussed BioTech Program
- Dave collaborates with Bridgewater State University and Massasoit Community College
- Aaron uses Open PCR thermocycler
- Massachusetts Life Science Center provided large grants to build the
- Dave used Grants from BioGen to get a supply of MiniOne Electrophoresis systems for his classrooms.
- Acton-Boxborough received BioTeach Grant money to build their biotech equipment up
- Aaron Uses Edvotek GMO Food Lab with his honors biology classes
- Aaron would love to get his hands on MiniPCR Equipment
- Both Dave and Aaron are looking to bring CRISPR into their curriculum
- Massachusetts is transitioning it’s High School Science Standards
- Both Dave and Aaron have been working to wrap our minds around what a Model means in NGSS
- Dave teaches interdisciplinarily with his english classes and teaches the following books:
- “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
- “The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry” by Bryan Sykes
- “Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues” by Martin Blaser
- Central Mass is a great place to Hike, Boat, and Geocache if you like the outdoors.
- Aaron’s Favorite Labs right now:
- Honors Biology Independent Research Project
- Too many to list in AP Biology, but I’m looking forward to the Edvotek Artificial Selection with arabidopsis lab
- Dave uses the Cold Spring Harbor Genetic Origins Lab
- Here is Aaron’s MicroBiome Lab Series that I presented at MABT last spring
- ABRHS Science Fair Program
- Aaron’s Pick was inspired by This Week in Virology #417 and is connected to the Randy Shilts Book “And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic”
Pick of the Week: (Share a resource or news story that has grabbed your attention recently)
Dave – Why you don’t have much Neanderthal DNA in your genome
Aaron – Dugas was not AIDS Patient Zero – An update to “And the Band Played On…”