Science Take-Out Kits for Neurobiology Education

描述（由申请人提供）：在中学课堂上，神经生物学的内容通常是在非常有限的基础上覆盖的，目前很少有让学生参与动手神经生物学探究活动的实验室活动。此外，许多教师在将实践活动整合到他们的课程中所需要的时间和资源有限。这个项目将为显著增加神经科学教育创造新的潜力，通过使用便宜的、预先组装的科学外卖工具包，包括所有需要的材料和用品，动手，主动学习。该项目的目的是开发、试点测试和评估六种专注于神经生物学的新型科学外卖工具包的使用。我们将通过教师焦点小组和在校使用来测试和评估这些工具包。在第一阶段的SBIR项目中，我们将：“开发六种不同的科学外卖神经生物学工具包（包括学生指导、教师指导和工具包材料），这些工具包与生物学课程的各个主题领域相关。”“开发和使用评估工具，以确定科学外卖神经生物学工具包是否对学生的学习和职业意识产生积极影响。“组织五个教师焦点小组来评估科学外卖神经生物学工具包的原型。“让30名中学教师（每套5名）与学生一起试用Science Take-Out神经生物学工具包和评估工具。“让120名中学教师（每个工具包20人）与学生一起实地测试Science Take-Out神经生物学工具包，并收集工具包对学生学习影响的数据。这个拟议的项目意义重大，因为它将对教师的能力产生积极影响，使他们能够利用实践活动吸引不同的学生群体来理解神经生物学的内容、应用和职业。这个拟议的项目是创新的，因为在SBIR第一阶段项目中开发的科学外带工具包将允许教师将神经生物学概念整合到生物学课程的各个领域，包括“非传统”主题领域，如进化、生态学和遗传学。此外，Science Take-Out工具包的创新特性将增加繁忙的教师采用这些新课程材料的可能性，这将进一步扩大本项目对学生学习的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neurobiology content is typically covered on a very limited basis in secondary school classrooms and there are few currently available laboratory activities that engage students in hands-on neurobiology inquiry activities. Also, many teachers have limited time and resources needed for integrating hands-on activities into their curriculum. This project will create new potential for significantly increasing neuroscience education by using the convenience of inexpensive, pre-assembled Science Take-Out kits that include all needed materials and supplies for hands-on, active learning. The purpose of this project is to develop, pilot test, and evaluate the use of six new Science Take-Out kits that focus on neurobiology. We will test and evaluate the kits through teacher focus groups and in-school use. During this Phase I SBIR project we will: " Develop six different Science Take-Out "neurobiology" kits that (including student instructions, teacher instructions, and kit materials) that correlate with various topic areas of the biology curriculum. "Develop and use assessment tools to determine if Science Take-Out neurobiology kits have a positive impact on student learning and career awareness. "Conduct five teacher focus groups to evaluate prototypes of the Science Take-Out neurobiology kits. "Engage a group of 30 secondary school teachers (5 per kit) to pilot test the Science Take-Out neurobiology kits and assessment instruments with their students. "Engage a group of 120 secondary school teachers (20 per kit) to field test the Science Take-Out neurobiology kits with their students and collect data on the impact of the kits on student learning. This proposed project is significant because it will have a positive impact on teachers' abilities to use hands-on activities to engage diverse student populations in understanding neurobiology content, applications, and careers. This proposed project is innovative because the Science Take-Out kits to be developed during this SBIR Phase I project will allow teachers to integrate neurobiology concepts into various areas of the biology curriculum, including "nontraditional" topic areas such as evolution, ecology and genetics. In addition, the innovative characteristics of Science Take-Out kits will increase the likelihood of adoption of these new curricular materials by busy teachers, which will further expand the impact of this project on student learning. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The relevance of this project to public health is that the Science Take-Out kits will provide teachers with access to hands-on neurobiology lessons and lab activities which will help their students' master scientific subject matter and develop their scientific reasoning skills. The Science Take-Out kits to be developed in this project will increase student's understanding of neuroscience their knowledge of neuroscience careers. Teachers and their students who use these educational materials will also become better informed on decisions involving their health.