Science Take-Out Kits for Environmental Health Education

描述(由申请人提供)：全世界近25%的死亡和疾病与环境因素有关(世卫组织，2006年)；因此，公众必须基本了解环境如何影响他们的健康，以及他们如何保护自己免受环境暴露的影响。不幸的是，环境健康内容通常在非常有限的基础上被涵盖，即使在中学课堂上也是如此(Martina，2009)。该项目的目的是开发、试点测试和评估以环境健康科学(EHS)为主题的科学外卖工具包的使用情况。这些教材套将使中学生物教师能够轻松地将EHS活动融入他们现有的课程中。这个项目是由以下公司合作完成的：科学外卖，这是一家小型企业，生产预先组装的“袋装实验室”科学工具包，其中包含学生从事实践科学活动所需的所有材料。罗切斯特大学环境健康科学中心的社区外联和参与核心，该中心为学生、教师和普通公众创建了许多教育和外联倡议。在这个第一阶段的STTR项目中，我们将：1.开发6种不同的科学外卖工具包(包括工具包活动、材料和教师指南)，内容涉及环境健康科学的各种主题，供中学生物学生使用。2.为科学教师组织3个焦点小组，对科学外卖工具包的原型进行评估。3.在中学生物课室试行6个科学外卖套装。这一拟议的项目意义重大，因为它将建设中学教育工作者利用实践科学活动将EHS信息带入课堂课程的能力。这些新的试剂盒将结合所有科学外卖试剂盒的“袋装实验室”易用特性和活动，让学生学习EHS的重要概念，例如：剂量-反应关系；环境制剂对身体系统和生物过程的影响；不同生命阶段对环境制剂的敏感性变化；以及预防环境暴露。这个拟议的项目是创新的，因为科学外卖EHS工具包将采用独特的特征组合，增加教师采用它们的可能性：(1)工具包活动将使用科学过程技能来 增加学生对EHS概念的理解；(2)组装齐全的工具包将使实践EHS活动变得容易、经济和方便教师实施；以及(3)清晰简洁的教师指南将适合可能没有EHS背景的教师。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nearly 25 percent of death and disease, worldwide, is linked to environmental factors (WHO, 2006); therefore, it is critical that the general public has basic understanding of how the environment affects their health and how they might protect themselves against environmental exposures. Unfortunately, environmental health content is typically covered on a very limited basis, if at all, in secondary school classrooms (Martina, 2009). The purpose of this project is to develop, pilot test, and evaluate the use of Science Take-Out kits that focus on topics in environmental health science (EHS). The kits will be designed to enable secondary school biology teachers to easily integrate EHS activities into their existing curricula. This project is a partnership between: "Science Take-Out, a small business that manufactures preassembled "lab in a bag" science kits containing all materials needed for students to engage in hands-on science activities." The Community Outreach and Engagement Core of the University of Rochester's Environmental Health Sciences Center, which has created numerous education and outreach initiatives for students, teachers, and the general public. During this Phase I STTR project we will: 1. Develop 6 different Science Take-Out kits (including kit activities, materials, and teacher guides) on various topics in environmental health science for use with secondary school biology students. 2. Conduct 3 focus groups for science teachers to evaluate prototypes of the Science Take-Out kits. 3. Pilot tests the 6 Science Take-Out kits in secondary school biology classrooms. This proposed project is significant because it will build the capacity of secondary school educators to use hands-on science activities to bring EHS messages into their classroom curricula. These new kits will combine the "lab in a bag" ease-of-use features common to all Science Take-Out kits with activities that engage students in learning important concepts of EHS such: as dose-response relationships; effects of environmental agents on body systems and biological processes; changes in susceptibility to environmental agents at different life stages, and; prevention of environmental exposures. This proposed project is innovative because the Science Take-Out EHS kits will employ a unique combination of characteristics that increase the likelihood of their adoption by teachers: (1) The kit activities will use science process skills to increase students' understanding of EHS concepts; (2) The fully assembled kits will make the hand-on EHS activities easy, economical and convenient for teachers to implement, and; (3) The clear and concise teachers' guides will be appropriate for teachers who may not have a background in EHS.