Primary School Fun at QIMR
Enquiries:
Primary education consultant
Mrs Jacqueline Burrows
Email: jacquiB@qimr.edu.au
or
Education Coordinator
Mrs Simone Cross
Phone: 61 (0)7 3362 0307
Email: education@qimr.edu.au
"Every Living Thing is made of DNA" project
Primary School Children in Grade 3 from "Prince of Peace Lutheran Primary School" Enoggera spent a day at QIMR learning how important DNA is in the biome.
Students watched a brief presentation in the QIMR Auditorium introducing them to the role of DNA in what we look like (eg colour of their eyes), how they grow, who they are and who they may become.
"How we use DNA in our research at QIMR",
Two Grade 3 classes[40 children, 12 adults and 2 teachers]
were divided into 5 groups of 10 people[8 children, 2-3 adults].
These 5 groups moved with a Lab scientist to different lab displays to find out
"The 5 Things we do with DNA @ QIMR"
Group 1. LASER LAB 
Group 2. LEUKEMIA/ZEBRA FISH LAB
Group 3. VIRUS INVADERS/EBV LAB
Group 4. MELANOMA VACCINE LAB
Group 5. (Prostate) CANCER LAB
Students dressed up as scientists, were shown the use of specialized equipment for investigating research questions and what we look at for answers to these questions about medical research on Health and Disease.
The 5 groups were then brought together to assemble models of the DNA molecule, using lollies: marshmallows as deoxyribonucleic bases, snakes as the sugar-phosphate backbone and toothpicks to help twist the shape into a single helix like the DNA double helix.
It was very difficult not to eat a DNA molecule!
Hmmm How much DNA do we eat every day??