Students had a special treat when the BioBus rolled into the parking lot of Glenwood Landing School. The BioBus is a high-tech science lab on wheels filled with research-grade equipment. As students boarded the bus, they were told that they were scientists who were able to immediately explore the microscopic ecosystem around them in an inquiry-based setting that is supervised by masters and doctorate-level biologists.
With state-of-the-art fluorescence stereo zoom microscopes and digital cameras, Glenwood Landing students were excited to explore first-hand the internal workings of a micro-crustacean organism called a daphnia, more commonly known as a water flea. The young Glenwood scientists were able to ask many questions and learn about the organism’s physical and behavioral characteristics.
The BioBus has been on the road since 2008, visiting more than 500 schools in Manhattan and New York communities and reaching approximately 60,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students every year. Ben Dubin-Thaler, founder and executive director said, “At all schools, we see that kids are excited about science, and most want to do more, both on the BioBus at their school and in our in-depth BioBase classes. Our highly trained research scientists [eight masters and doctorate-level researchers] meet the students where they are, whether they’re using a microscope for the first time or whether they’re doing their own research project.”
For more information on the BioBus, visit www.biobus.org.
