EdVenture Children's Museum, a hands-on, children's museum in Columbia, S.C., in close collaboration with NIH-funded researchers at the University of South Carolina, proposes a five-year, SEPA project titled "Unlocking the Mysteries of Chronic Diseases: BioInvestigations for Family, School and Youth Audiences." The program will develop teaching laboratories and experiments to educate youth ages 5-14, teens and adults about biomedical science topics in a fun, investigatory way. From these laboratory experiences, EdVenture will also develop educational programs designed to engage disadvantaged audiences in schools and communities to help expose them to the world of science and the benefits of community-based translational research. The laboratories and educational programs will utilize scientific content drawn from NIH-sponsored biomedical research, and will translate the research process and public impact into meaningful experiences for the public. These programs will reach a large population, both urban and rural, in socio-economically depressed areas of the state, promoting students' interest in topics that they may not otherwise be exposed to and encouraging a lifelong familiarity and facility with scientific thought and practice. Throughout the life expectancy of this project, a projected 2.5 million children and adults will experience the laboratories and related educational programs. Long-term goals are to encourage future biomedical science career choices, and most importantly, empower a child to take control over his/her own health decisions and to develop the necessary skills to navigate the flood of health information inherent in the quickly changing landscape that is health today.
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM)--in collaboration with scientists at the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and Academic Health Center; the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Antibiotic Resistance Collaborative--requests a Phase 1/11five-year SEPA grant of $1,250,000 to develop a traveling museum exhibition and web site that highlight the fascinating science behind the outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases that are changing and shaping our way of life in the 21st century. Topics to be covered will include the emergence of new illnesses like SARS and Avian Influenza and the re-emergence of drug-resistant infections that were once curable but now can be fatal. An Infectious Disease Advisory Panel and Content Experts representing the collaborating institutions listed above and others will guide museum staff in the development of these exhibits and programs. EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES will be a 1,500 square-foot special exhibition to be installed in SMM's Human Body Gallery in spring 2007. After an 18-month presentation, it will begin a tour to five medium size science centers over two years. In addition to the exhibition and its complementary web site, special programming will be targeted to reach specific audiences, including: K-12 school groups visiting the museum (a user guide with on-line pre- and post-visit activities aligned with state and National Science Education Standards); K-12 classroom teachers (Curriculum Enhancement Institutes); and outreach programs serving after-school programs for children in under-served inner-city neighborhoods. A focus on areas of ongoing research will be used to highlight how far we have come in understanding the complex world of infectious diseases and how far we must go in treatment or elimination of present day health threats.
The “Being Me” program was developed to bring the educational process to life through hands-on learning that promotes children’s awareness of health issues and encourages scientific inquiry in an art-focused curriculum supporting National Science Content Standards (now Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS). In 2009, the “Being Me” partnership – Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC), the National Children’s Museum (NCM), and George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GW) – received a five-year National Institutes of Health Sciences Education
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Children’s Research InstituteJohn Fraser