Laboratory Professionals Member Community

Hi all,

I am currently planning a field trip for advanced high school students interested in STEM to visit our lab. They have hands on experience with ELISA, blood work + centrifugation, microbiology plating, histology + microtome, and genetics with chi-square. I am hoping to provide a hands-on experiencing that complements or expands on what they have learned without being underwhelming. Does anyone have experience with field trips or have a favorite hands on experiment on demonstration they can share?

Wow, that's a lot of professional exposure for a cohort of high school students!

One activity we've done that students in the 15+ age range appreciate is blood typing, I think because people enjoy learning things about themselves. There are kits you can order online, or you can assemble supplies from your own blood bank. Although that may or may not be viable depending on whether you're allowed to do finger pokes on minors for non-care related reasons.

A low cost option that I've seen work for health-focused students is to give them a case study (make something up to avoid PHI issues). Case studies are good for bringing together different principles (e.g. patient assessment, anatomy and physiology knowledge, lab science, data interpretation) and making the science feel more "real" to students. I can talk about microbes all day long, but it's much more interesting to say "Jose is a five year old presenting to your clinic with a 3-day history of low grade fever, cough, and sore throat. How would you figure out what's causing his symptoms? What do you need to know to make a diagnosis and come up with a treatment plan?"

If you have any particularly social MLS/MLTs, you could see if anyone is up for a Q&A session and just let the students ask whatever's on their mind.

Good luck!

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Helen Risser Technologist/Scientist, non-supervisor (CT,MLS,MT)
Minneapolis MN
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When I was in high school they had career day. I was interested in science.  I got to go to a clinical lab and spent the day watching what they did. This totally made go into Medical Laboratory Technology.  So when I went to college they had a MT degree.  So, since there is a shortage of MT's I I think you should encourage young people to tour once in a while.  It might help those that follow you.

Nursing and teaching were common occupations for women when I was young, but those were not ones which I wanted to pursue. I was, however, interested in the science field. My interest in medical technology came about serendipitously when I volunteered as a candy striper in a local hospital. One day I was sent to the laboratory – and that's when I decided that I wanted to work in the laboratory! I took college courses for medical technology and received my bachelor's degree. Then I took a break from school and work to take care of my children - including the nursing and teaching of them! I worked in a quality assurance lab before I obtained training in a clinical laboratory. During my career as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, I was involved in the one-to-one training of other Clinical Laboratory Scientists. In addition, I was a departmental coordinator of the CLS School.

Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! We ended up doing the strawberry extraction plus a purification step followed by quantification using a Qubit. It was a hit and students were really excited to see that they got a reading for DNA quantity. They also learned about different laboratory disciplines and career options.