BEST Science! - Bioscience Enrichment for Students and Teachers

描述（由申请人提供）：大新奥尔良地区正在进行一项前所未有的教育改革实验。这一努力的特点是大批具有改革思想的行政人员和教师涌入，热心采用公立特许学校的概念，增加了问责制和家长的选择，并加强了社区参与。这种环境为测试课程开发和交付中的新想法提供了独特而有吸引力的机会。美国国立卫生研究院（National Institutes of Health）根据其赞助研究的科学发现，开发了一系列教育模块。这些单元旨在补充州和地方各级现有的小学和中学生命科学课程，并与国家科学教育标准保持一致。由教师、科学家和课程专家开发的补充教材，由教师在全国范围内进行实地测试，“促进积极和合作学习，并以探究为基础，帮助学生培养解决问题的策略和批判性思维。”NIH模块不包括动手实验室练习，也没有规定培训教师在分子和细胞生物学和分子遗传学的基本概念和技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Greater New Orleans area is the setting for an unprecedented experiment in education reform. This effort is characterized by an influx of reform-minded administrators and teachers, enthusiastic adoption of the public charter school concept, increased accountability and parental options, and intensification of community involvement. This environment provides a unique and attractive opportunity for testing new ideas in curriculum development and delivery. The National Institutes of Health has developed a series of educational modules based on scientific discoveries from NIH-sponsored research. These units are designed to supplement existing elementary and secondary life science curricula at both the state and local levels and are consistent with National Science Education Standards. The supplements developed by teachers, scientists and curriculum experts, and field-tested nationally by teachers, "promote active and collaborative learning and are inquiry- based to help students develop problem-solving strategies and critical thinking." The NIH modules do not include hands-on laboratory exercises and no provisions are made for training teachers in the underlying concepts and technologies of molecular and cellular biology and molecular genetics. This application proposes a comprehensive program - BEST Science! - to provide Bioscience Enrichment for Students and Teachers. BEST Science! is a partnership between Ochsner Clinic Foundation, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and several local school districts The long-term objective of this partnership is to advance an interest in, and understanding of, biomedical research and health sciences by New Orleans area high school students, particularly underrepresented minorities. The ultimate goal is to stimulate further education and vocation in these areas. The general mechanism proposed to achieve this goal is to produce and implement summer professional development workshops for biology teachers and then provide the necessary resources for them to deploy the curriculum in their classrooms during the academic year. The core of the workshop curriculum will be select NIH modules supplemented with complementary laboratory exercises utilizing technologies such as DNA transformation, PCR amplification and gel electrophoresis. The laboratory units will be created using existing modules, developed by SEPA-funded programs such as CityLab and Regional Biotech, as templates. Research scientists and graduate students from Ochsner and LSUHSC will participate in the workshops. Academic year support will include provision of reagent kits, equipment loans and mentoring by program faculty, graduate students, and Lead Teachers who have experience with the curriculum. Participating teachers, who must commit for one year to all aspects of the program, will have the option of carrying out the laboratory exercises in their classroom or in a dedicated student laboratory on the Ochsner campus. By providing the necessary training and resources, BEST Science! will help incorporate the NIH modules into the local curricula and fulfill the original intent of the NIH program. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): The healthcare and biomedical research fields, much like the greater U.S. economy, is increasingly based on science and technology and requires a science-literate workforce. Many public school districts, particularly those in urban areas with a relatively large population of minorities and low-income families, do not have the resources to provide a comprehensive education especially in areas like life science where learning is heavily dependent on hands-on laboratory explorations. Ochsner Clinic Foundation and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, through the BEST Science! program, will provide the training and resources necessary for high school teachers in the greater New Orleans to add hands-on, inquiry-based educational modules into their existing curriculum - with the objective of stimulating students' interest in careers in biomedical research and the healthcare fields.