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(并在以后传播)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)数量增加的担忧，将强调农村地区的环境健康。此外，环境与农村健康中心(CERH)可以为外展提供知识和研究经验。本研究选取中学年级为研究对象，重点研究公办学校学生社交技能发展的黄金时期。尽管在过去十年里，这一时期的教育改革很少，但中学时期是引导每一位青少年融入美国主流生活的关键时期，因为他们在学业和个人能力(以及由此产生的社会贡献)方面取得了巨大进步。它是确保我们国家在数学和科学教育方面处于领先地位的最有力的场所。与城市学校相比，农村学校不太可能获得关于环境健康问题的最新信息，但可能最需要这些信息。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教职员工提供的环境健康信息将由教育学院组织成中学科学课程，并通过现有的大众媒体远程学习方法(SCR TEC，FORUM98)和专业教师发展计划传播到农村环境。科学家-学生的方法将指导教师与公立学校的人际关系。具体目标是：1)开发专为农村中学生量身定做的多媒体学习材料(通过目前建立和流行的互联网网站向公立学校传输健康科学课程)；2)提供专业人员发展方案(为教师开发/执行短期课程，将实施基于网络的环境和健康科学课程单元，描述远程教育设计选项与环境健康知识的现状，并提高教师对农村健康问题和潜在解决方案的认识)；3)提供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合作伙伴关系(教职员工和研究生直接和在线访问并向学生展示科学发现和研究的兴奋)。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，以及需要基础研究来改善公共卫生的知识。这些提出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，为未来的生物医学和健康相关科学领域的科学家和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.