My name is Sue Glennon. I am from the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) in Minnesota. I have taught 2nd, 5th and 6th grade students for 22 years in the Anoka-Hennepin School District which is about 20 miles north of Minneapolis. It is a large district with over 2000 teachers. The Mississippi River runs through our district. We are also located on a large sand plain that was the result of glacial melting during the last Ice Age. The city of Anoka claims to be the Halloween Capital of the World, so there are parades and other activities. The National Sports Center is in Blaine. It is the site for many soccer activities, bike races, and ice skating events.
I have been teaching 6th grade Science, Reading and English at Northdale Middle School since 1992. In Science our students study oceanography and marine biology (Voyage of the Mimi) for half the year and Legos Simple Machines for the other half. We will be adding more physical science to the 6th grade curriculum within a year or so.
I have been taking classes to obtain my licensure to teach High School Biology. The TRUE program has provided a wonderful opportunity for me to get laboratory research experience.
My lab assignment has been with Dr. Gayle Brazeau in the Department of Pharmaceutics. Dr. Brazeau's research includes studying the effects of estrogen deprivation on rat muscles and studying levels of pain involved in non-oral drug (medication) administrations.
Dr. Brazeau's estrogen study hypothesizes that estrogen deprivation leads to greater muscle damage. This is being tested by comparing leg muscle damage (enzyme leakage) in laboratory rats which have ovaries and estrogen with those that are estrogen deprived (their ovaries have been removed).
My job has been to put the muscles in organ baths for four hour periods. (I'm working at the organ bath apparatus in the picture at the top.) The muscles are in a balanced saline solution and are kept at 37.5 degrees Celcius. The saline solution is collected at 30 minute intervals and replenished. After 4 hours, the collected samples are tested for the presence of creatine kinase, or CK. Creatine kinase is an enzyme released when muscles are damaged and thus serves as a marker. A spectrophotometer is used to determine the CK levels in the solutions collected. This study has implications for post-menopausal women.
Dr. Brazeau has spent a lot of time talking with me and a high school student (who is also participating in a summer science program). We have been able to observe her doing laboratory work and have been patiently trained by her (a few times!) to use the spectrophotometer. Here is that machine.
She really has wanted us both to have interesting, worthwhile lab experiences and has enthusiastically helped us with projects. Various graduate students have also assisted us and answered our questions.
I have found that equipment and vocabulary that were unfamiliar are now part of my daily routine. I have really enjoyed being introduced to some of the research techniques being used and I do feel that though my prior knowledge of them was minimal, I have been able to contribute to the lab because of the training and encouragement that I received on the job.
The TRUE program is a wonderful experience. If I could, I would like to participate every summer! As a 6th grade teacher, I would like to encourage other teachers of younger middle school students to apply to this program.
If you do come to Florida in the summer, you may see sea turtle nests on the beach. We saw this one and about 20 others on the beach at Long Boat Key, near Sarasota, along the Gulf of Mexico. The turtles lay their eggs in the sand during the months of May - July at night. The babies hatch about two months later. Volunteers in Long Boat Key look at the beaches in the early morning for turtle tracks. If they find a nest, they stake out the area, put a nest protection sign on it and note the date.
If you would like to e-mail questions to me, you can contact me during the school year at:
If you would like to see a Voyage of the Mimi Web Site we've started in my district (with oceanography and marine biology resource information for teachers) you can click here: