Day 4- Meet the doctoral students

Today started off very differently from the past 3 days at the Center for BioPhysics. Rather than receiving a lecture delivered by one of our professors, today's lecture was delivered by one of the doctoral students in the department, Adam de Graff. Adam's lecture was on DNA, inheritance, and the struggle for survival. In short, this lecture discussed the building blocks of DNA, the primary theories involving the creating and development of DNA, and the evolution of DNA from the earliest organisms to modern, complex organisms of today. Another important aspect of the lecture was on the causes of evolution. The two primary causes of evolution that were discussed were DNA mutations and recombination of DNA. This lecture was extremely beneficial to me for two reasons. First, this was the first day that I truly felt that I had a grasp on the concepts of the lecture and could explain the received information with a level of clarity. Next, this information was delivered by Adam with such intensity and enthusiasm for the subject that it kept you engaged throughout the lecture.

In the afternoon, we were once again split into our groups. Once in our groups we discussed two questions relevant to the math and science teachers in this program: funding for hands-on activities in the classroom and practical applications of science and real world phenomenon in the math class. There were many beneficial concepts and ideas presented by my peers that I feel will help me in my planning for the upcoming fall semester.