MEDMYST: Dissemination Phase II A Phase I grant, The Reconstructors Investigate Medical Mysteries, from the National Center for Research Resources (R25 RR15295) funded the creation and field-test of innovative web-based materials targeted for middle school students. The product has come to be known as MEDMYST.It is an episodic adventure series with accompanying classroom activities focusing on infectious diseases and the microbes that cause them. The MEDMYST materials consist of: a) web adventures; b) classroom activities; c) MEDMYST Magazine--all designed to engage students in problem-solving activities not likely to be encountered elsewhere. Each of these components is available free of charge on the web site (http://medmyst.rice.edu) and all components are aligned with the National Science Education Content Standards. An extensive field test involving over 700 students from 9 different schools tested the efficacy of these materials. The results, accepted for publication in American Society for Microbiology's Microbiology Education journal, indicated significant learning gains with exposure to the Internet component of the materials. In this Phase II application, the goals are: 1) To create a network of MEDMYST Dissemination Partners and Lead Teachers whose expertise and training will continue beyond the SEPA funding. 2) To amplify teaching of Infectious Disease related concepts though MEDMYST in middle school classrooms by training a minimum of 1200 teachers, who will teach approximately 150,000 students over a two-year period. 3) To evaluate the impact of MEDMYST teacher training and document the adoption process in classrooms. 4) To continue to promote MEDMYST in a variety of educational settings, such as homes, after-school programs, museums, and with links from other web sites. To accomplish these goals, we have formed partnerships with the University of Washington Educational Outreach, The Minnesota Science Museum, the John P. McGovern Museum of Health ad Medical Science, and the American Society for Microbiology.
We propose to leverage the power of the Internet and the appeal of on-line gaming environments for middle school students to create a new type of learning resource in science. Case histories of medical discovery will be transformed into "problem- based" multimedia mysteries for students to solve. Through prior research we have developed and field tested a working model for an adventure series that engages middle school students. We propose to extend the model to new content. Assuming the on-line role of a Reconstructor who seeks lost medical knowledge from the past, students will unravel the origins of specific diseases or medical discoveries. The learning objectives for each episode will be multidisciplinary. The goal is to engage students in constructing their own knowledge by participating in virtual experiments, by helping them establish a context for the discoveries, and by understanding issues involved in forming public health policy. An experienced team representing medicine, biology, history of science, education, and information technology will oversee the project, assuring the integrity of the site content, and incorporating cutting edge technology. A process of iterative prototyping, focusing heavily on teachers and students will be employed to make the resource site exciting, educational, and useful in classrooms, in homes, and in museums. The field tests will be conducted in schools, representing a cross-section of the community, assuring appropriate presentation of materials to target populations.
The Great Lakes Science Center, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University (CASE), proposes to develop a permanent exhibition and related programs on biomedical engineering. The successful implementation of this project would allow CASE and GLSC to inform a broad constituency about select biomedical research advancements, applied technologies, and their relevance to society. When the project is completed, we will be able to expose many thousands of visitors each year to the updated exhibition - increasing their interest in and understanding of important science concepts underlying advancements in biomedical technology. The exhibition would encompass approximately 2000 square feet and feature approximately 20 exhibits, most of which would be interactive. The major audiences for the exhibition include families, school groups, and general museum visitors. The BioMedTech exhibition is located on the Science Center's main floor, which places an emphasis on the science and technology of particular importance to Northeast Ohio. The exhibition will be accompanied by educational programming, public programs, and wide dissemination around the region and within the Science Center world. When fully implemented, the project could reach many hundreds of thousands of visitors and garner national attention through dissemination efforts. Visitors to the exhibition and participants in related programs will come to a better understanding of the connections between biology and technology while learning of science and engineering's role in improving the quality of life in our society.
The Tech Museum of Innovation and Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Genetics have established longterm partnership to enable the public to draw connections between modern genetics research and choices they face about their health. Together we will develop, produce, evaluate, and disseminate Life's New Frontier, a dynamic exhibition which will inform the public about the goals and methods of modern genetics. Interactive permanent exhibits and guided learning centers, staffed jointly by museum educators and by working scientists (predominantly Stanford graduate students and postdoctoral fellows), will take the public into the minds and laboratories of scientists who are revolutionizing biomedical science. The exhibition and associated public and school programs will emphasize the emerging discipline of bioinformatics, which is fundamental to the Human Genome Project, gene-based diagnosis, rational drug design, and treatment of disease. Life's New Frontier will open in the summer of 2003 to reach an estimated 1.5 million diverse people annually through museum and online visitation. It will set a new standard for the treatment of cutting-edge science in exhibitions by establishing an infrastructure that permits rapid changes to exhibit content, and creating opportunities for visitors to receive personalized science and health updates after their visit. The exhibition also will serve as a platform to foster continuing personal interaction among middle and high school students, Stanford faculty and students, and the general public. The Tech/Stanford partnership will be maintained through staff liaison positions at each partner institution and will be evaluated to assess its effectiveness. We hope to extend this model to other departments at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and to disseminate it as a model for other science center/university partnerships in biomedical sciences. We anticipate significant outcomes of this partnership: the pblic will be better able to apply the ideas of modern genetics to decisions about their health; and a broad range of students from diverse backgrounds will be inspired to pursue biomedical education and research.
KY-H.E.R.O.S. (Health Education Rural Outreach Scientists) is a health science education program that partners the largest science center in Kentucky with Science Heroes-- important regional biomedical research scientists. The Science Heroes, their stories and their studies serve as inspiration to our rural audience. The project objectives are to: (1) Convey the relevance of health science research to people's daily lives and promote awareness of healthy lifestyle choices and wellness; (2) Promote understanding of the fundamental principles of the scientifc process and inspire K-12 teachers to incorporate current research into their teaching of health science; and (3) Encourage students to pursue advanced science education and increase awareness of the wide range of health science related careers. The Science Center, working with the distinguished Science Heroes, their research teams and a group of 15 knowledgeable professional advisors will develop the new KY-H.E.R.O.S. science education program. The program will include new hands-on labs and demonstrations, teacher training workshops, career exploration activities, interactive videoconferencing distance learning links, and innovative public programs. Using museum-based exhibits and a wet lab, traveling exhibit components, telelinking (distance learning), an interactive website and printed and electronic materials, we will present information about the work of the Science Heroes and its relevance to the lives of participants. The focus of the program will change every two years to feature three different scientists and their work. A total of nine scientists will be included during the 5 year period covered by the SEPA grant. As the focus changes every two years to a different three scientists, all the programs and exhibits will be changed accordingly. KY-H.E.R.O.S. will be designed to serve audiences composed of school groups on field trips; teachers in workshops; classes in remote areas of the state participatng through videoconferencing; underserved groups including economically disadvantaged, minorities and young women; and the family audience that makes up about 60% of the Science Center's annual attendance. Formative and summative evaluation will be conducted by an outside firm to ensure effectiveness.
1. Build stepwise a prototype -Virtual Clinical Research Center- (VCRC) for K-12 learners and mentors (diverse peers, experts, and patients) by accessing, mobilizing, and linking the human and physical resources of a prototype national network of Clinical Research Centers (CRC) and translational laboratories through state-of-the-art Telemedicine communication and collaborative technologies and featuring T3 or the 3Ts - Teams, Technologies, Translation - of the Clinical Research Enterprise); 2. Develop the Medical Ignorance Exploratorium (MIEx) as a hybrid K-12 cybercafe-health science museum with key features of a) navigable, game-like, 3D environment including -Isles of Medical Ignorance- and -Questionator,- b) Resource Library, c) Live Performance Theater; and d) Collaboration Space, all to stimulate and guide student-centered inquiry about medical breakthroughs, clinical topics, and sick patients (featuring cyber Q3 or the 3Qs-Questions, Questioning, and Questioners); 3. Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the curricular and delivery resources and models in SA1 and 2 as well as the dissemination in SA4; 4. Disseminate, embed, and expand the refined Virtual CRC and Medical Ignorance Exploratorium in K-12 schools, the clinical research community, and beyond.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marlys WitteGrace WagnerMichael Bernas
JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH is a new television science series and outreach initiative from Emmy award- winning producers Marilyn and Hal Weiner. With a comprehensive informal and formal education program designed by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the project will educate and motivate millions of people about the most important health and environmental issues of the 21st century. Against a backdrop of scientific findings illustrating the complexity and fragility of the Earth's natural systems, the series will provide a much needed perspective to help students and the general public understand and cope with the difficulties of developing a global agenda that addresses the health and environmental concerns of the next millennium. JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH's outreach initiative targets middle-school aged youth in a variety of informal and formal educational contexts, including ten of the country's leading science museums. It is supported by a comprehensive evaluation program and strategic outreach partnerships with organizations such as the North American Association for Environmental Education, the Geological Survey, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the National 4-H, the Department of Agriculture's Classroom Program, the GLOBE Program and AAAS.
This project will partner The Museum with researchers from local health science organizations, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Duke University Medical Center, to create an interactive exhibition and a series of monthly public programs. Investigate Health! will further understanding of children's health issues as visitors: 1) experiment with the science behind these issues, 2) discover that individual choice impacts well being, and 3) explore associated health science careers. The Investigate Health! project will produce a 2,100-square-foot resident exhibit containing hands-on manipulatives, interactive computer programs, a staffed laboratory area, and a resource center. The exhibition will be accessible to children and adults of diverse backgrounds and physical abilities. The 500-square-foot staffed laboratory area within the exhibit, called Health Lab, will give visitors opportunities to interact with Museum staff, health researchers, and teenage volunteers as they use scientific instruments for more in-depth explorations. A resource center within the resident exhibit will provide a comfortable place for visitors to research emerging health-related issues and gather information about accessing health care. The Health Investigator Series, monthly public programs cosponsored by the region's world-renowned medical schools and health research organizations, will bring scientists and health care professionals to speak directly to the public about the frontiers of research influencing children's health and the career opportunities available in their fields of expertise. Investigate Health! will reach more than two and a half million Museum visitors, local teachers, and teenage volunteers who will visit the resident exhibit during its life span (ideally, seven years) and take part in the enriching public presentations connected with it.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Roy GriffithsTraci ConnorSarah Prather
The Internet, specifically the World Wide Web (WWW), has the potential to deliver science education materials directly to classrooms, media centers, libraries and homes. The current application seeks to use this new technology through a collaborative effort of an active scientist and a group of middle school science teachers to develop, disseminate and evaluate educational materials related to neuroscience for use in middle school science classes. This project attempts to introduce new technologies into the science classroom, extend science education to include the information superhighway and increase parental involvement in their children's education. Materials will be integrated with the existing middle school science curriculum and will include l) on-line and off-line experiments and activities covering a range of topics in neuroscience, 2) a "virtal neuroscience laboratory", 3) an Internet neuroscience resource list and 4) a "Neuroscientist Network" consisting of active neuroscientists around the world who will serve as experts answering student questions. All activities will be designed will attention to being self-paced, hands-on, entertaining and to involve Cooperative learning. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to evaluate the usage of the Intemet Neuroscience Resource. It is hoped that this project will serve as a model to other scientists and teachers and to encourage them to develop Internet resources in their own areas of expertise for use in the classroom.
This project will disseminate neuroscience materials to secondary school science teachers via a CD-ROM. These materials will be evaluated to 1) determine changes in student attitudes toward science; 2) to assess changes in student knowledge of neuroscience concepts and 3) to quantify how students and teachers are using the Internet Neuroscience Resource ("Neuroscience for Kids"). The Scientific Attitude Inventory-II will be used to evaluate middle school student attitudes toward science before and after exposure to the Neuroscience Resource. Pretesting and posttesting of middle school students will be performed to evaluate content knowledge of neuroscience-related concepts and principles. Questions that comprise the content evaluation inventory will be based on the guidelines and benchmarks established by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Council, and the National Science Teachers Association. Prior to general distribution, pretests and posttests for both attitude and content knowledge will be evaluated for validity and reliability with pilot group of middle school students. An Internet version of the Neuroscience Resource will continue to be developed.
The Internet has seen an explosive growth in the past few years, and masses of information on cancer are readily available to anyone with a live connection. Unfortunately, the vast majority of this information is presented in long test passages, with few illustrations and non multi- media elements to increase user interest. Absent are materials that help people appreciate how basic research in cancer genetics is being rapidly translated into new options for diagnosis, treatment and prevention. We seek support to create an extensive WWW site, Inside Cancer, which literally will take people into the workings of the cancer cell and into the laboratories of scientists who are revolutionizing cancer research. Building upon the project staff's strong experience in building multimedia WWW sites, Inside Cancer will make use of the most up-todate technology to merge animation and video into a visually stimulating experience. At the same time, the project draws scientific authority from a world-renowned research institute and advisors who have played important roles in the development of modern cancer research. Five modules will be developed. What is Cancer? quickly answers this and other related questions in short animations and prepares more curious visitors for the next modules. Cancer in the Laboratory features researchers explaining animated sequences of their own experiments, which laid the foundation for understanding cancer at the molecular level. Cancer Causes and Prevention animates the molecular events triggered by carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke and diet and emphasizes how lifestyle changes can reduce cancer risk. In Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment visitors shadow doctors making a cancer diagnosis, showing the connections between cancer cell alterations and new treatment options. Pathways to Cancer takes visitors on a 3-dimensional tour of a cell and its signaling pathways, then allows them to see downstream effects of mutations and their relation to cancer evelopment. As new findings and therapies are discovered, we will update the modules to keep Inside Cancer current.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David MicklosShirley ChanSusan Lauter
The American Museum of Natural History requests SEPA support for a five-year development and implementation project entitled "Human Health and 'Human Bulletins': Scientists and Teens Explore Health Sciences in the Museum and World At Large." The program has three complementary components: (1) the development of 7 new productions for the Museum's digital media/documentary exhibition program, Human Bulletins http://sciencebulletins.amnh.org) featuring the newest health-related research; (2) a mini-course, entitled Hot Topics in Health Research NOW, an intensive after school program covering genetics, epidemiology, human health and human evolution, including a section on ethics in research; and (3) A "drop-in" Human Bulletins Science Club, where students meet monthly to watch a Human Bulletin visual news program, engage in informal discussions with significant researchers in the fields of evolutionary science and human health. The main goals of this project are: (1) to inform young people about emerging health-related research by using the Human Bulletins as core content for programming and points of engagement; (2) to promote a life-long interest in science among participants by teaching them how health-related science research could potentially affect them or their families; (3) to empower teens to critically assess the science presented to them in the Museum and in the world at large by teaching them to break down the "information bytes" of the Human Bulletins and to analyze how stories are presented visually and how to find answers to questions raised by the Bulletins; (4) for the young people in the program to see themselves as participants in the Museum by developing "mentor" relationships with Museum staff. This will allow students to see AMNH as an enduring institution to be used as a resource throughout their education and careers; and (5) to give students the means to envision themselves with future careers in science, research and in museums (thus fostering new generation of culturally-diverse, culturally enriched scientific leaders) by introducing them to scientists in an informal setting where there are no consequences for making mistakes or asking questions. The students will be given "behind the scenes" looks at new career options through the scientists featured in the Bulletins and the NIH funded researchers on the Advisory Board presenting at the informal sessions. Ultimately, the project aims to give students to critically process the information they receive about public health, see the relevance of human health science to their lives and pursue careers in health science. All of these skills are measurable through formative and summative evaluation. This project will teach young people to understand information about public health that is presented to them through visual and popular media as well as through formal scientific texts. It will also teach them to think about how human health sciences impact their lives and how the decisions they make impact larger human health. Finally, the program will also encourage students to pursue careers and further information about public health.