ENVIRONMENTAL AND RURAL HEALTH EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP

拟议的科学教育伙伴关系的长期目标是开发（并随后传播）一个吸引人的模式，以加强农村地区6-8年级的环境和健康科学教育。 由于公众对德克萨斯州农村地区与环境健康有关的疾病（出生缺陷、铅中毒等）数量增加的关注，将强调农村环境健康。 此外，环境和农村卫生中心（CERH）可以提供知识和研究经验的推广。 中学年级的选择是为了将应用程序集中在公立学校学生社交技能的主要发展时期。虽然在过去的十年里，这一时期几乎没有进行什么教育改革，但中学阶段是引导每个青少年进入美国生活主流的关键，因为他们在学术和个人能力（以及由此产生的社会贡献）方面都有了巨大的进步。 它是确保我们国家在数学和科学教育方面的领导地位的最有力的场所。 农村学校不太可能比大城市的学校获得最先进的环境卫生问题的信息，但可能最需要它。 农村学校与大学教授的互动较少，这可能会影响他们的职业选择。 CERH教师提供的环境卫生信息将由教育学院编入中学科学课程，并通过现有的大众媒体远程学习方法（SCR TEC，FORUM 98）和专业教师发展方案传播到农村地区。 科学家-学生的方法将指导教师与公立学校的人际交往。 具体目标是：1）开发适合农村中学生的多媒体学习材料（通过现有的和流行的互联网网站，制定一个向公立学校传播的健康科学课程）; 2）提供专业的员工发展计划（为教师开发/执行短期课程，基于环境和健康科学课程单元，描述了远程教育设计方案与环境健康的当前知识状态，提高教师对农村卫生问题和潜在解决办法的认识）; 3）提供一个人机界面和在线互动，直接在公立中学学生和科学家之间建立伙伴关系（教师和研究生直接在线访问并向学生展示科学发现和做研究的兴奋）。 通过有关新发现的信息和基础科学帮助解决公共卫生问题的力量，将宣传某些行为/情况会增加疾病风险以及需要进行基础研究以改善公共卫生的知识。 这些拟议的具体目标将提高公众对健康科学的理解，并鼓励大量学生进入并留在科学学术轨道上，为未来的科学家和生物医学和健康相关科学的相关工作者培养国家所需的劳动力。

The long-term goal of the proposed Science Education Partnership is to develop (and later to disseminate) an engaging model for enhancing environmental and health science education of grade levels 6-8 in rural settings. Environmental health in the rural setting will be emphasized because of public concern for increased numbers of environmentally health-related diseases in rural Texas (birth defects, lead poisoning, etc.). Further, the Center for Environmental and Rural Health (CERH) can provide knowledge and research experiences for outreach. Middle school grade levels are chosen to focus the application on the prime developmental period for social skills of public school students. Although this period has received little educational reform in the past decade, the middle school period is central to channeling every young adolescent into the mainstream of American life by making vast improvements in their academic and personal competence (and resulting societal contribution). It is the most powerful venue to ensure our nation's leadership in math and science education. Rural schools are less likely than metropolitan schools to receive state of the art information on environmental health issues, but may need it most. Rural schools have less interaction with college professors that might influence their career choices. Environmental health information provided by faculty in the CERH will be organized into a middle school scientific curriculum by the College of Education and disseminated into rural settings via existing mass media distant learning methods (SCR TEC, FORUM98) and professional teacher development programs. The scientist-student approach will direct faculty human interface with public schools. The specific aims are: 1) to develop engaging multimedia learning materials tailored for rural middle school students (develop a health science curriculum transmitted to public schools via currently established and popular Internet Websites); 2) to provide professional staff development programs (develop/execute short courses for teachers that integrate implementing Web-based environmental and health science curriculum units that describe distant education design options with current state of knowledge in environmental health, and that enhance teachers' awareness of rural health problems and potential solutions); and 3) to provide a human interface and online interaction to establish partnerships between public middle school students and scientists directly (faculty and graduate students visit and present scientific findings and excitement of doing research to students directly and on-line). Through information on new discoveries and the power of basic science to help solve public health problems, the knowledge that certain behaviors/situations increase risk of disease and that basic research is needed to improve public health will be publicized. These proposed specific aims will improve the public understanding of health sciences and encourage a large number of students to enter and remain in science academic tracks to produce the nation's needed workforce for future scientists and related workers in biomedical and health-related sciences.