Project Related:

Educational Resources

  • Teacher Workshops

    Grade:
    Resource: programs for teachers on genetics and microbiology

  • Student Programs

    Grade:
    Resource: programs for students on genetics and microbiology

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Birmingham Science Education Partnership (BSEP): Middle School Inquiry Based Learning

Grant Code: R25RR022745

Funding Years: 04/01/2006 - 03/31/2011

Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Department: Cell Biology

Address:
1530 3rd Ave South
Birmingham, AL, 35294

PI:
WYSS, MICHAEL J.,
Phone: (205) 934-5198
Fax:
Email: jmwyss@uab.edu

OTHER CONTACT:
WILLIAMS, MARY B.,
Phone: (205) 934-5125
Fax: (205) 975-5987
Email: wilwag@uab.edu

OTHER CONTACT:
MORGAN, JENNY,
Phone: (205) 934-5043
Fax:
Email: jmmorgan@uab.edu

OTHER CONTACT:
PARKER, JULIE,
Phone: (205) 714-8479
Fax:
Email: geneius@mcwane.org

URL: http://main.uab.edu/cord/show.asp?durki=37570
Audience

Middle school teachers, students, parents, siblings and medical, graduate and undergraduate honors students

Project Description

The Specific Aims are to: 1. Promote excellence in biomedical science education and literacy among Birmingham City School students, 2. Provide outstanding training in inquiry-based biomedical education to middle school science teachers in Birmingham City Schools, 3. Enhance health literacy and good health practices among the general public, especially among the parents and siblings of the middle school students, 4. Foster an appreciation of biomedical education among UAB science and professional students to create a cadre of scientists and clinicians who will participate in and lead K-12 science education throughout their careers.

Resources for Sharing

1. Full protocols for each of programs will be made publicly available on CORD-s website: These will include protocols for: A. Summer science camps, B. Classroom experiences, C. McWane Science Center laboratories. 2. The students will teach their parents and siblings the lessons that they learned, and by pre- and posttesting their -students,- they will gain greater insight into the biomedical issues by their teaching. 3. The teachers and UAB facilitators will carry their lessons-learned forward throughout their careers. 4. The staff will present their results at annual meetings of the Alabama Science Teachers Association and at the annual Experimental Biology and Society for Neuroscience meetings.

Dissemination Strategies

We will make the modules available that are developed for all area schools.

Abstract

Health care disparities in the United States are due, in part, to a lack of early biomedical/health science education among minority and disadvantaged children. This failure of the education system leads to an under representation of minorities in the pipeline to biomedical careers, poor health literacy and an elevated burden on health care. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham City Schools (BCS)' and McWane Center have forged an effective alliance that has empowered CORD's SEPA-funded high school programs and thus, created a self-sustaining model in which the resources of all three partners have been leveraged to greatly enhance BCS science education. As an index of this success, since 1999 nearly 100% of the African-American students who completed CORD's 3-year high school summer program have advanced into colleges and universities, primarily majoring in biomedical science subjects. Annually, these programs directly reach about 4,000 minority students and provide intense training to > 20 of their teachers. However, despite these successes, a majority of BCS students lose interest in science education prior to high school years. These students must be engaged and given a solid science background earlier in life, if a significant number are to advance into biomedical careers. This proposal focuses on a new integrated program to enhance student inquiry-based science education for grades 6-8 by providing new opportunities for the students and greatly enhancing science training for their teachers. The challenges of these groups are quite different from the ones CORD faced in its high school programs. Middle school students and the teachers have much less science training than their high school counterparts. Major strengths of the proposed program include: 1) incorporation of proposed inquiry-based, in-class and McWane Center sessions into the core science curriculum of BCS, 2) integration of teacher training into the regular in-service training of CS science teachers, 3) partnership with committed professional and undergraduate biomedical students who with the teachers will facilitate inquiry-based science and biomedical health education and 4) engagement of parents and the general public in health literacy education, awareness of the benefits of NIHsponsored research. The proven partnership of UAB, BCS and McWane Center will provide a test of the power, cost-effectiveness and self-sustainability of this inquiry-based model.

Keywords

middle school; molecular biology; physiology; health, learning, school, teacher; child rearing, children, experience, parent, secondary school, training clinical research

Other projects from the same PI:
View the Poster as presented at the 2006
SEPA Program Director's Conference

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