AP Biology Students Visit American Museum of Natural History

An AP Biology field trip to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City Jan. 28 came at the midpoint in the year, when the students could apply what they have learned in the class to the displays and processes described at the museum.
 

AMNH, which many people associate with dinosaur skeletons or life-size dioramas, is a research facility as well as the house of the world’s premier paleontological collection. Westminster students are able to see science in action during their visit and, with their background from class, appreciate the work that went into making the exhibits.
 

On this visit, the Westminster group arrived at the AMNH and went right to one of the museum’s teaching labs. In this lab, under the guidance of several museum scientists, they used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis to analyze the genetics of two food samples for markers of genetic modification. These techniques are ubiquitous now in the fields of forensics as well as phylogeny, and this activity set up the students for more conversations about the recent changes in evolutionary relationships based on molecular evidence. The students also broadly discussed why food is genetically modified and the different sides of the argument about genetically-modified organisms in our food supply.
 

The students next journeyed to the Hall of Biodiversity, where exhibits reflected the range of life forms on the planet as well as the biomes in which these organisms interact. This exhibit also had a number of ecological videos and information, giving Westminster students insight into the state of the planet and the impact of human activity on natural systems. The students are just beginning a survey of life and will be doing ecology in the spring, so this exhibit served as an excellent preview.
 

After lunch, the students were directed to the Hall of Vertebrate Evolution on the top floor of the museum. This floor has been arranged as a giant cladogram, or evolutionary tree, with groups branching sideways and forward from distinctive branching points described in kiosks in the middle of the corridor. For instance, the adaptation of jaws from a gill arch opened new adaptive niches for vertebrates as jawed fish and their evolutionary descendants could hunt more actively. The Westminster AP Biology students had recently finished a unit on cladistics and evolution, so this exhibit became as much about appreciating the process of science as allowing for them to witness and wonder about the creatures, like the dinosaurs, that lived in prehistoric times.
 

“This trip was a wonderful opportunity to put into practice some of the knowledge the students have accumulated during these past months,” said science teacher Mark de Kanter ’91. “We look forward to offering this and other special events to Westminster science students in the future.”