PUH-mily adopts eleven

The Science Internship Program (SIP) is a summer elective course offered to incoming tenth grade Philippine Science High School students. It gives students an opportunity to have "hands-on" and "minds-on" participation in engineering or science laboratories. Such involvement aims to instill in them a scientific mindset as they begin to formulate research questions for their research projects. And with only a small percentage of college enrollees taking natural sciences courses, collaborating agencies also hope to inspire them to be part of the nation's future pool of scientists and engineers.

Welcoming anyone with a genuine interest for learning, PUH was one of the participating laboratories in the Institute of Biology. Eleven interns from four regional campuses were able to spend at least 120 hours, from May 18 to June 5, with the herbarium staff and fellows from associated laboratories that together represented the Terrestrial Ecology group. For both plants and animals, they were able to practice sampling methods, learn preservation techniques, create databases and try DNA extractions. More than imparting to the students the basic knowledge and skills needed in the field and laboratory, the importance of the natural world and reasons for conducting research on it was also explained.

The summer activity ended with a social where students and staff members talked about their experiences in a more relaxed atmosphere. Interns were also given a chance to suggest ways to improve the course for the benefit of the next batches. Unfortunately for the eager staff, the students were all satisfied.