About WSU Spokane CityLab
WSU Spokane CityLab is a fully equipped, laboratory-based teaching and learning center that offers experience in inquiry-styled teaching methods and laboratory instruction in biology, chemistry and biotechnology.
Advanced technology and a strong mentoring system mean that teachers return to the classroom with cutting-edge instructional tools and models.
Sylvia Adams Oliver, PhD, a research scientist, created WSU Spokane's CityLab in 1995 as a satellite of Boston University School of Medicine CityLab. CityLab provides upper elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers in eastern Washington with valuable educational experiences in biotechnology and related sciences.
At CityLab, teachers and students engage in scientific learning in a laboratory setting, and teachers enjoy a non-threatening approach to self-evaluation of classroom implementation.
CityLab programs include:
- Teacher training workshops in biotechnology curriculum and implementation of new state and federal science standards in the classroom.
- Hands-on workshops for students and classes in a working biotechnology research laboratory.
- Hands-on biotechnology workshops at rural high schools throughout the Inland Northwest.
- After-school science camps for upper elementary and middle school students.
- Summer biotechnology camps for young women.
- Resource center services, including an equipment loan program, protocol trouble shooting, and supply of laboratory materials.
- Interactive mentoring for students and teachers by WSU Spokane CityLab personnel.
- Special collaborative research projects for selected high school students.
Funding comes from state and federal programs and from the Health Research and Education Center at WSU Spokane.