It has been percolating in our minds for a year or so, and finally we are setting off on a coordinated and cooperative venture with the Rocky View district’s Chestermere High School. We are working on the pilot project of the Biotechnology Module in Career and Technology Studies (CTS). This is a complementary program designed for Alberta's secondary school students. The course structure of CTS enables the design of a unique program to meet the needs of students. We (Genome Alberta) represent the community resource.

After carefully combing through the Biotechnology Program of Studies, I realized that the major areas of interest for Genome Alberta and the work I had done in the past on preparing an inquiry approach learning module for the Pine Beetle problem fit almost seamlessly with this portion of the Alberta program of studies.

Previously, I examined the IPP for several students and I notice that one unifying Learning Strategies is to develop communication skills and to display work for the school or larger audiences. I highly recommend that this Learning Strategy can be met through the Genome Alberta CTS Biotechnology module. Participation allows students to showcase an area of strength and to develop in many other important ways. Through this CTS Biotechnology module, students develop not only scientific and mathematical literacy, but also develop language arts skills, organization, oral and written communication and technical writing skills. The way that we are setting this up will also give students an opportunity to be evaluated and receive feedback from independent non-school based professionals. The inquiry nature of the project requires the use of creative ways to solve problems and to approach problems from many different perspectives. CTS Biotechnology module is a means of students becoming involved in exciting projects where they are fully in charge of designing, assessing, trouble-shooting and taking ownership of their learning. Genome Alberta’s contribution includes the opportunity for the student to design real problems with real solutions. This CTS Biotechnology module at the high school level certainly concentrates on higher level functions based on Bloom’s taxonomy. And the module requires an interdisciplinary approach that may lead to further work with mentors.
In addition to all the criteria which enable achieving the objectives and outcomes of individual program plans, successful completion of the modules will allow students to enhance resumes with regard to competitive scholarship and post secondary application.

As I stated above, the CTS Biotechnology module will make use of some of the areas of Genome Alberta’s areas of interest. This includes Nutrigenomics, the Tria Project, and the Oilsands Environmental Genomics Project. We anticipate that students undertaking this module will choose one of these areas to do an inquiry based research project. In short, after being vetted by their peers and their teacher, projects will be submitted for review to Genome Alberta. At this point, the student will present their work publicly as a guest blogger on Genome Alberta’s Website. We have successfully showcased student projects in the past on this blog, and know that it will be a popular feature in the future.

We will post future blogs on this topic as further details are developed in consultation with Chestermere High School.