Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPA) Annual Program Director Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：NCRR科学教育伙伴奖（SEPA）计划资助新颖的项目，以提高学生（K-12年级），他们的教师和公众对科学和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、媒体专家和其他感兴趣的教育组织之间建立创新的伙伴关系。根据国家环保总局项目公告（PAR-06-549）的规定，国家环保总局资助项目的项目负责人和主要工作人员必须参加年度会议。自1991年项目启动以来，每年举行一次会议。来自项目、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NIH其他ic的适当工作人员，以及来自HHMI和NSF的工作人员参加了会议。一项奖学金计划使教师和部落领袖也能参与其中。一年一度的会议提供了最好的机制，让国家环保总局的pi和NCRR的工作人员就国家环保总局的具体计划、审查和拨款管理问题进行公开和坦诚的讨论。它还为pi及其员工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关键发展，建立和加强他们在项目相关领域的知识和技能，分享项目的成功和挑战，建立网络并形成合作。环保总局年会在未来三年的总体目标是：

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.