Modeling for Fidelity: Mentored Dissemination of a Novel Curriculum about Infecti

描述(申请人提供)：美国的传染病(ID)负担自1980年的历史最低水平以来翻了一番，很大程度上是因为人类行为的变化。因此，艾滋病对我们未来的影响主要取决于我们在教育有文化的公民方面取得多大成功，他们能够做出限制感染影响的生活方式选择 尽管如此，ID很少专注于高中课堂，部分原因是很少有教师接触到这个话题，但也是因为教师专业发展的结构密谋将教师与ID内容专家分开，后者大多在医学院。为了满足这一需求，我们与教师合作编写了一份全面的课程，旨在让高中生参与到ID对全球社会的影响中来。新课程的成功实施需要密集的教师支持。作为回应，我们开发了一种专业发展模式，在这种模式下，近乎同行的内容专家导师和大师教师合作，模拟如何有效地教授复杂的概念。通过这种方式，教师学会了自信地执行新材料的策略。我们称这种方法为“为保真度建模”。在这里，我们建议利用这一模式和我们的ID课程作为研究生级别的课程，在全国范围内面对面和在线传播材料。该课程介绍了最新的生物和扫盲国家科学教育标准，使用了一个创新的框架，重点关注关于ID的五个核心问题--为什么我应该关心ID？；拥有ID意味着什么？微生物如何成为病原体？病原体如何使我们生病？我怎样才能变得更好？它使用苏格拉底和基于案例的方法，促进积极学习，以及互动活动和扩展识字部分。它是专门为缺乏资源或课程表而无法获得广泛实践经验的学校提供探究性学习的。它也足够灵活，可以纳入任何现有的活动，以促进我们的学习目标。重要的是，我们的研究生课程还将教给教师识别、定位和评估可靠资源的技能 需要与时俱进，保持课程的动态，以及有效调整课程以适应其特定课堂需求的战略。参加课程的教师将得到密集的支持，以便在课堂上与不同的学生一起试行课程。将严格评估在内容、知识和执行的准确性方面取得的成果，并确定传播的最佳做法。面对面的研究生课程将培训来自美国各地的约120名教师，而虚拟学习平台将从这些课程中获取材料并在网上免费传播。至关重要的是，虚拟学习平台还将包括直接指导部分。合在一起，它们每年都有可能接触到大量的教师和学生。我们的方法满足了为21世纪学习者设计的高质量、综合课程的需求，同时帮助学生建立所需的深入理解，以做出关于他们健康的明智选择。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The infectious disease (ID) burden has doubled in the US since its all-time low in 1980, in large part because of changes in human behavior. As a consequence, how ID will impact us in the future critically depends on how successful we will be in educating a literate citizenry able to make lifestyle choices that limit the impact of infection Despite this, ID rarely focuses in the high school classroom, in part because few teachers have been exposed to the topic, but also because the structure of teacher professional development conspires to segregate teachers from ID content experts, most of whom are in medical schools. To address this need we partnered with teachers to produce a comprehensive curriculum designed to engage high school students in the impact of ID on global society. Successful implementation of novel curricula requires intensive teacher support. In response we developed a professional development model in which near-peer content expert mentors and master teachers collaborate to model how to effectively teach complex concepts. In this way teachers learn strategies to confidently implement new material. We call this approach "Modeling for fidelity". Here we propose to leverage this model and our ID curriculum as graduate-level courses that will disseminate the materials nationally, both face-to-face and online. The curriculum addresses the most recent national science education standards in biology and in literacy using an innovative framework focused on five core questions about ID - Why should I care about ID?; What does it mean to have an ID?; How does a microbe become a pathogen?; How do pathogens make us sick? How do I get better? It uses Socratic and Case- based approaches that foster active learning together with interactive activities and extended literacy components. It is specifically designed to bring inquiry based learning to schools with few resources or scheduling that precludes extensive hands-on experience. It is also flexible enough to incorporate any existing activities that further our learning objectives. Critically our graduat courses will also teach teachers skills to identify, locate and evaluate the reliable resources the need to remain current and keep the curriculum dynamic, as well as strategies to effectively adapt the curriculum for their specific classroom needs. Teacher participants in the courses will receive intensive support to pilot the curriculum in the classroom with diverse students. Gains in content knowledge and fidelity of implementation will be rigorously evaluated and best practices for dissemination established. The face-to-face graduate courses will prepare approximately 120 teachers from across the US, while the virtual learning platform will capture material from these courses and disseminate it freely on line. Crucially the virtual learning platform will also involve a direct mentoring component. Together they have the potential to reach significant numbers of teachers and students each year. Our approach meets the need for high-quality, integrated curricula designed for 21st Century learners while helping students build the deep understanding needed to make informed choices about their health.