Education Outreach Programs
Inclusion and equity are the focus of educational outreach programs led by the Minnesota Public Health Laboratory. It is our goal to show Minnesota youths the work we do in the lab to support the health and well-being of all Minnesotans and to make youngsters aware of the different lab career paths that are open to them.
Through hands-on, interactive programming and by partnering with different organizations, the lab can reach diversified audiences and create a bridge for them to the sciences.
Host a Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) lab in your classroom
Turn water into vapor and conduct a variety of other hands-on, simple lab experiments in your classroom that coincide with the work our lab scientists perform each day. Activities can include extracting DNA from strawberries, testing pH levels of soil and water, or detecting air pollution in different environments. Have a real lab scientist join the classroom experience, dependent on their availability. The scientist will give their firsthand account of the career path they took to work in the labs at MDH. They will also discuss in depth their area of expertise and of course leave time for questions from students.
For the classroom experience, MDH will provide all the materials for the science experiment. We aim to make this experience applicable to the current curriculum of the class.
Lab tours
Visit the health department building and take a guided tour of our labs for infectious disease, the environment, and newborn screening. Learn about the work our scientists do every day to improve the health and safety of every Minnesotan. Enhance the experience with a customized presentation or learning experience from our education specialists.
Career fair
Invite us to your career fair. Have you ever wondered the pH of your morning coffee or what happens when you mix baking soda into Coca-Cola? Fairgoers can do a simple lab experiment and win prizes at our interactive table/booth. We get people talking about work opportunities like internships for high school and college-level applicants and the educational pathways that lead to lab science careers.
Scrubs camp
This interactive infectious disease class takes students on a journey through a community health outbreak, from the perspectives of our Infectious Disease Laboratory and Emergency Preparedness and Response program. Attendees learn about different outbreaks and become disease detectives. Students take on the roles of epidemiologists and lab scientists throughout the course, using the scientific method and real lab equipment to conduct tests and eventually identify the infectious agent.
Community event
Let us bring science to you. Our customizable tables with interactive experiments and activities travel for pop-up events anywhere in the community. And we gear it toward the age group that you specify. Students lead themselves through science-based activities.
You can also stop by your local public library in the Twin Cities metro area to pick up a science activity kit. These kits guide you through collecting water and soil samples. After using the testing strips in the kit, you can send your results to MDH through an app and become a real citizen scientist.
Please contact Ashley Riskedahl at ashley.riskedahl@state.mn.us with questions about these programs.