Problem-Based Learning for Drug Abuse and Addiction Education

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goals of this project are: (1) To create curricula that are adopted by teachers and are used to improve students' understanding of the biology of drug abuse and addiction, and (2) To develop a professional development training model that effectively disseminates the curricula and promotes its adoption by teachers. To accomplish our goals, this project will create three problem-based learning curriculum modules with related instructional resources to model how research-based instructional strategies can be applied to teaching the biology of drug abuse and addiction. During this four- year project, the curricula will be developed, field-tested, and disseminated with built-in formative and summative evaluations. Each curriculum module will use a real-life scenario based on current topics in drug abuse and addiction research. The topics of these three curriculum modules will be: (1) The effects of addiction on behavior, (2) The effects of addiction on homeostasis: drug tolerance and withdrawal, and (3) The effects of drugs on prenatal and postnatal development. These three curriculum modules will integrate resources from the NIDA website with laboratory activities and computer-based resources that can easily be incorporated into a district's existing high school biology curriculum. The curriculum modules will align with New York State's Math, Science and Technology Learning Standards and with the National Science Education Standards. The curriculum modules will be disseminated to over 500 biology teachers throughout New York State through workshops presented by the New York State Biology-Chemistry Professional Development Mentor Network. A comprehensive mixed-methods evaluation will be implemented and will consist of process and outcomes measures, employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. We will assess the implementation of the curricula and the impact of the curricula on student content knowledge. Public Health Relevance: The relevance of this project to public health is that students and teachers will have a better understanding of the science of drug abuse and addiction. The project will create and disseminate educational materials to promote understanding of the effects of drug abuse and addiction on behavior, prenatal and postnatal development and drug tolerance and withdrawal. This information will allow students and teachers to become better informed for decisions involving their health.