Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPA) Annual Program Director Conference

描述(由申请者提供)：NCRR科学教育伙伴奖(SEPA)计划资助新的项目，以提高学生(K-12年级)、他们的老师和普通公众对科学和NIH研究的理解。该计划支持生物医学和临床研究人员与K-12教师和学校、博物馆和科学中心教育工作者、媒体专家以及其他感兴趣的教育组织之间建立创新的合作伙伴关系。国家环保总局项目公告(PAR-06-549)规定，受资助环保总局项目的PIS和主要工作人员必须参加自1991年该项目开始以来每年举行的年度会议。来自计划、拨款管理、审查办公室和主任办公室的NCRR工作人员，以及来自其他NIH IC的适当工作人员，以及HHMI和NSF的工作人员参加了会议。奖学金计划使教师和部落首领也能参与进来。一年一度的会议提供了最好的机制，让国家环保总局PI和NCRR工作人员就环保总局特定的方案、审查和拨款管理问题进行公开和坦率的讨论。它还为私营部门及其工作人员提供了一个重要的机会，让他们了解正规和非正规科学教育领域的重要发展，在与其项目相关的领域建立和加强自己的知识和技能，分享计划的成功和挑战，以及建立网络和形成合作关系。今后三年环保总局年会的总体目标是： 目标1：向国家环保总局社区通报和教育严格的评估模式，以满足新的政府强制(学术竞争力理事会)评估标准，并促进此类模式的采用。 目标2：提供与国家环保总局科学中心/博物馆和K-12项目有关的非正规和正规科学教育的趋势、问题和挑战的最新情况。 目标3：通过为受赠人提供分享信息、最佳做法和评价方法的机会，为国家环保总局项目之间的合作提供机会，并指导新项目。 每个为期2.5天的会议包括全体会议、一般性讨论、分组会议和海报会议。为了帮助国家环保总局的项目学习如何处理最近学术竞争力委员会报告的任务，项目评估将是即将举行的会议的一个重要焦点。每次会议都由国家环保总局PIs会议组织委员会安排。这些会议由美国各地的环保署项目主办，有150-180人参加。每次会议结束后，演讲者的PowerPoint幻灯片和会议摘要将在会议网站和国家环保总局网站上提供，以便于访问和传播。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The NCRR Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPA) program funds novel projects that improve students' (grades K-12), their teachers' and the general public's understanding of science and NIH research. The Program supports the creation of innovative partnerships between biomedical and clinical researchers and K-12 teachers and schools, museum and science center educators, media experts, and other interested educational organizations. PIs and key staff from funded SEPA projects are required to participate in an annual conference - held yearly since the program's inception in 1991 - as specified in the SEPA Program Announcement (PAR-06-549). NCRR staff from Program, Grants Management, Office of Review, and the Office of the Director participate in the conference, as well as appropriate staff from other NIH ICs, and staff from HHMI and NSF. A scholarship program enables teachers and tribal leaders to also participate. The annual Conference provides the best mechanism for an open and candid discussion between the SEPA PIs and NCRR Staff on SEPA-specific programmatic, review and grants management issues. It also provides an important opportunity for PIs and their staff to learn about key developments in the fields of formal and informal science education, to build and strengthen their own knowledge and skills in areas relevant to their projects, to share program successes as well as challenges, and to network and form collaborations. The overall Objectives of the annual SEPA Conference over the next three years are to: OBJECTIVE 1: Inform and educate the SEPA community about rigorous evaluation models that address the new government-mandated (Academic Competitiveness Council) assessment criteria and promote adoption of such models. OBJECTIVE 2: Provide updates on trends, issues and challenges in informal and formal science education which are relevant to SEPA science center/museum and K-12 projects. OBJECTIVE 3: Provide a networking opportunity, a forum for collaboration among SEPA projects, and mentoring of new projects by providing opportunities for grantees to share information, best practices and evaluation methods. Each 2.5-day conference includes Plenary, General Discussion, Breakout and Poster sessions. In order to assist SEPA projects in learning how to address the mandates of the recent Academic Competitiveness Council report, program evaluation will be a strong focus for upcoming conferences. A Conference Organizing Committee of SEPA PIs plans each meeting. The conferences are hosted by SEPA projects around the US and are attended by 150-180 participants. Speakers' PowerPoint slides and summaries of conference sessions will be available on the Conference website and the SEPA website after each meeting for easy access and dissemination.