How to Make a Better Potato
In collaboration with Drs. Paul Bethke and Shelley Jansky (and graduate students, postdocs, and technicians), Dr. Halterman has participated in STEAM Point Day at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for the past several years. This hands-on classroom exercise lets 7thand 8thgraders learn more about research to improve potato varieties. Dr. Halterman led the students in an investigation into resistance and susceptibility to Potato Virus Y. Based on their observations, the students predicted whether plants were infected with virus and then tested their predictions using immunological detection.
Drs. Jansky and Bethke discussed how cold storage of potatoes leads to increased sugar production and why this impacts potato chip color. Students were able to predict chip color based on the sugar content of the potatoes (using diabetic test strips) and then fried the potatoes to determine if their predictions were correct.
Here's a short video of us in action:
