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非常有限的，目前几乎没有可供学生参与动手神经生物学探究活动的实验室活动。此外，许多教师将实践活动整合到课程中所需的时间和资源有限。该项目将创造新的潜力，通过使用廉价的、预先组装的科学外卖工具包的便利性，显著增加神经科学教育，其中包括动手、主动学习所需的所有材料和用品。这个项目的目的是开发、中试测试和评估六种专注于神经生物学的新的科学外卖试剂盒的使用。我们将通过教师焦点小组和学校使用来测试和评估工具包。在这个第一阶段的SBIR项目中，我们将开发六种不同的科学外卖神经生物学试剂盒，这些试剂盒(包括学生指导、教师指导和工具包材料)与生物课程的各个主题领域相关。开发并使用评估工具来确定科学外卖神经生物学试剂盒是否对学生的学习和职业意识产生积极影响。“带领五个教师小组评估科学外卖神经生物学试剂盒的原型。”聘请30名中学教师(每个试剂盒5名)与他们的学生试行测试科学外卖神经生物学试剂盒和评估仪器。“聘请120名中学教师(每套20名)与学生实地测试科学外卖神经生物学试剂盒，并收集有关试剂盒对学生学习影响的数据。这个拟议的项目意义重大，因为它将对教师利用动手活动让不同的学生群体参与了解神经生物学的内容、应用和职业的能力产生积极影响。这项拟议的项目具有创新性，因为在SBIR第一阶段项目期间将开发的科学外卖工具包将允许教师将神经生物学概念整合到生物课程的各个领域，包括进化、生态学和遗传学等“非传统”主题领域。此外，科学外卖工具包的创新特性将增加忙碌的教师采用这些新课程材料的可能性，这将进一步扩大这一项目对学生学习的影响。 公共卫生相关性：该项目与公共卫生的相关性在于，科学外卖工具包将为教师提供实际操作的神经生物学课程和实验室活动，这将有助于他们的学生掌握科学主题并发展他们的科学推理技能。本项目将开发的科学外卖试剂盒将增加学生对神经科学的了解，他们对神经科学职业的知识。使用这些教育材料的教师和学生也将更好地了解涉及他们健康的决定。

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.