STRAWBERRY DNA EXTRACTION

Picture depicted: Jenica holding up the strawberry DNA sample from the cup. 

We worked with Abode Homeless Shelter to host our first experiment session with the kids on 5/18/2025. Our topic for this session was DNA extraction, in which we used strawberries as our “organism.” We first mashed the strawberries, added our mixture of dish detergent, salt, & water as our solution for the DNA extraction into our strawberry mush. Next, we filtered out the liquid using a coffee filter and using rubbing alcohol into the liquid in order to find the white cloudy substance, which was our DNA. We looked at it through a microscope to fully see what the DNA looked like. Lastly, we had a mini worksheet for the kids to complete to assess their understanding of the concept.