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Educational Resources

Museum Exhibits
Grade: 6-12
Resource: science centers/museums (middle and high school students and teachers).

Curricula/Literature
Grade: 6-12
Resource: Educational and outreach materials related to Cancer Control Month, Asthma and Allergy Awareness Week and Lead Poisoning Prevention Week

HOPE Partnership (Health Observances & Public Education) (Phase II)

Grant Code: R25RR018490

Funding Years: 09/30/2003 - 08/31/2008

Institution: University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

Department: School of Public Health

Address:
Liberty Plaza, PO Box 2688 335 George Street, Suite 2200
New Brunswick, NJ, 08903-2688

PI:
GOTSCH, AUDREY R,
Phone: (732) 235-4988
Fax: (732) 235-4960
Email: csche-sph@umdnj.edu

OTHER CONTACT:
WAISHWELL, LYNN,
Phone:
Fax:
Email: waishwly@umdnj.edu

OTHER CONTACT:
HEMMINGER, LAURA,
Phone: (732) 235-4988
Fax:
Email: hemminlb@umdnj.edu

Audience

Middle and high school students and teachers, and the general public

Subjects Addressed

Research on asthma and allergies, lead poisoning, and cancer and the environment

Project Description

1. The HOPE Partnership is designed to enhance public understanding of biomedical and health-related research and the impact of this research on human health through the development and dissemination of public health science education materials. 2. The project partners include Community Outreach and Education Programs at Oregon State University, University of Arizona, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Southern California/ University of California, Los Angeles, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and University of Wisconsin-Madison. 3. Through this initiative, students, teachers and the general public are gaining access to resources and information necessary to realize the impact of research on public health, improving their scientific literacy. 4. The HOPE Partnership capitalizes on three established national health observances that focus on diseases to which many people can relate: Cancer Control Month (April), Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month (May), and Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (3rd week of October).

Resources for Sharing

1. Educational materials for middle and high school teachers and students, as well as the general public, have been developed based on the results of the HOPE Partnership needs assessment. 2. The educational materials are designed to raise public awareness as to how research relates to the prevention, detection and/or treatment of diseases addressed by the three selected health observances. 3. A Health Observance Package has been created for each health observance. Each package contains fact sheets, presentations and hands-on activities to highlight research advances among the target audiences: Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month Health Observance Package (HOP), Lead Poisoning Prevention Week HOP, and Cancer Control Month HOP.

Dissemination Strategies

The HOPE Partnership-s educational materials are disseminated and evaluated through six action mechanisms (modes of dissemination), to allow project partners to reach a variety of audiences. The six action mechanisms and target audience(s), include: 1. community learning (general public); 2. formal education (middle/high school teachers and students); 3. informal education (middle/high school teachers and students and general public); 4. media (general public); 5. non-profit organizations (general public); and 6. science centers/museums (middle/high school students).

Abstract

The UMDNJ-School of Public Health, through the Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP) at the Center for Environmental Health Sciences, a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Center of Excellence at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), proposes to conduct the HOPE Partnership (Health Observances and Public Education), a five-year Phase I and II Development and Dissemination project. This program will help to improve public understanding of the biomedical and health-related sciences and the impact of research on human health, while determining the most effective outreach methods to achieve this goal. UMDNJ will direct this project in collaboration with seven COEPs based at universities nationwide. The HOPE Partnership will continue the collaborations established through the EH-STEP (Environmental Health Sciences Training and Education Program) initiative, also supported by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health (Grant No. R25 RR15621), through August 31, 2003. Seven of the eight universities from EH-STEP, who have demonstrated their ability to collaborate to increase public understanding of the biomedical and health-related sciences, are part of the HOPE Partnership: Oregon State University ; University of Arizona ; UMDNJ; University of Southern California/University of California , Los Angeles ; University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Vanderbilt University . These established partners will be joined by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . The model comprises six components: health observances, needs assessment, action mechanisms, public health science education materials, scientist involvement and program evaluation. Program components will capitalize on three established national health observances (Cancer Control Month, Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month nd Lead Poisoning Prevention Week) to impact the target audiences (students, teachers, general public). A needs assessment will document the target audiences' perceptions, attitudes and knowledge of biomedical and health-related sciences. Utilizing the diverse experiences and expertise of this established network of COEPs and the needs assessment, the HOPE Partnership will develop public health science education materials that will be disseminated through action mechanisms: community learning, formal education, informal education, media, non-profit organizations and science centers/children's museums. Scientists will be involved throughout the initiative including the development of materials and the implementation of the action mechanisms. Formative and summative measures will be used to analyze all aspects, including overall project effectiveness.

Keywords

public education; formal education; informal education; middle and high school students; middle and high school teachers; general public; scientific literacy; health observances; nationwide; multi-university collaboration; action mechanisms; allergy; asthma; asthma and allergy awareness month; biomedical; cancer control month; coep; community outreach and education program; community learning; curricular materials; curriculum; formal education; general public; health observances; health observance packages; health-related; high school; hope partnership; informal education; lead; lead poisoning prevention week; lesson plans; media; middle school; non-profit event organization; oregon state university; public education; research; science centers/children-s museums; scientists; students; teachers; university of arizona; university of medicine and dentistry of new jersey; university of north carolina at chapel hill; university of southern california/university of california, los angeles, university of texas m.d. anderson cancer center; university of wisconsin-madison; vanderbilt university