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Educational Resources

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    Resource: student programs

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    Resource: multimedia

  • Curricula/Literature

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    Resource: curriculum on water and air quality issues

Environmental Health Science Education for Rural Youth

Grant Code: R25RR020432

Funding Years: 08/01/2005 - 06/30/2010

Institution: University of Montana

Department: Dept of Pharmacy Practice

Address:
32 Campus Dr.
Missoula, MT, 59812

PI:
HOLIAN, ANDRIJ,
Phone: (406) 243-4018
Fax:
Email: andrij.holian@umontana.edu

Co-PI:
WARD, TONY,
Phone: (406) 243-4018
Fax:
Email: tony.ward@umontana.edu

URL: http://www.umt.edu/cehs/k12_outreach.html
Audience

Students and teachers at grades 4-12, plus a public outreach component.

Subjects Addressed

Environmental health is being used as an integrative context for science learning, with a focus on water and air quality issues in the rural West. Special effort is being made to incorporate Native American perspectives and to develop instructional materials that are cross-curricular in scope (math, science, language arts, social studies, health enhancement).

Project Description

1. Offer innovative training experiences and career development opportunities in biomedical science; 2. Increase enrollment in post-secondary science education; 3. Improve science literacy by making information and materials culturally appropriate and comprehensible to a broad audience, including Native Americans, rural residents, and groups most affected by environmental health problems and disparities in health outcomes.

Resources for Sharing

1. Air Toxics Under the Big Sky - curricula developed through a research partnership with five western Montana high schools, two Nez Perce Indian Reservation high schools in Idaho, and the Nez Perce Distance Learning Center of Northwest Indian College. Faculty are trained so they can instruct their students in sampling indoor air for air pollutants (VOCs, PM2.5) and human health impacts from wildland fires, woodstove combustion, agricultural burning, and mountain valley inversions. 2. Small-Scale Chemistry Training - hands-on lab training modules presented by Salish Kootenai College on small-scale chemistry delivered through its Indigenous Mobile Environmental Health Program. This campus-to-community project introduces students and teachers to small-scale chemistry and the research process by guiding them through the simulation of environmental episodes that can affect human health. 3. Western Montana Watershed Education - in partnership with Salish Kootenai College, local teachers, content consultants, a summer program on the Flathead Reservation, and two nonprofit organizations to deliver lessons and disseminate developed material in formal and informal educational settings. Environmental health lessons focus the 120-mile long Superfund complex along the Clark Fork River. 4. Community Involvement/Environmental Health Awareness - activities, materials, lectures which address chronic diseases (asthma, CVD, diabetes) and the role of environmental contaminants (asbestos, arsenic, mercury, meth production, PM, VOCs).

Dissemination Strategies

1. Collaborate with tribal colleges and a network of community-based education organizations and specialists to enhance K-12 environmental health science education; 2. Offer summer institutes that involve integrating environmental health topics into the school curriculum as professional development opportunities for rural teachers; 3. Develop culturally appropriate strategies, materials, and learning opportunities including Saturday academies, laboratory tours, portable learning modules, field trips, and summer internships. Emphasis is on hands-on, inquiry-based activities regarding air and water quality issues, Superfund remediation, and environmental health hazards; 4. Expand public support for integrating environmental health training in K-12 schools utilizing family education model in concert with Montana-s Indian Education for All Act. Materials and activities available at community health fairs, school events, pow-wows. 5. Deliver distance learning instruction to rural K-12 classrooms and tribal colleges.

Abstract

The Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) at the University of Montana has formed a productive partnership with Salish Kootenai College (SKC) in Pablo, Montana, in a subcontractual relationship throughout the planning and implementation phases of a Science Education Partnership Award project called Environmental Health Science Education for Rural Youth. The goal of this project is to improve science literacy by making information and materials culturally appropriate and comprehensible to a broad audience, including Native Americans, rural residents, and groups most affected by environmental health problems and disparities in health outcomes. Planning and implementation activities will focus on: 1) strengthening the partnership among CEHS, SKC, and a network of community-based education groups to enhance environmental health science education at the K-12 level, which can lead to increased enrollment in post-secondary science education through innovative training experiences and career development opportunities in biomedical science; 2) developing culturally appropriate strategies and materials relating to environmental health science, emphasizing hands-on, inquiry-based activities about health-related subjects such as air toxins, water pollution, and other environmental public health priorities; 3) disseminating information on environmental health science by means of a mobile science center and multi-media programs, making materials understandable, accessible, and relevant for students in the context of rural Montana; and 4) expanding public support for integrating environmental health training in K-12 schools in ways that are consistent with rural workforce and educational needs, as well as the diverse cultural and socioeconomic character of Montana. By integrating Montana's standards for science with the precepts underlying Indian Education For All, this partnership project will use culture to convey science to tribes and, concomitantly, use science to gie greater cultural perspective and awareness of environmental health issues to non-tribal students and teachers.

Keywords

environmental health science, biomedical science, air toxin, water pollution, student, teacher

View the Poster as presented at the 2006
SEPA Program Director's Conference

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