The goal of this program is to establish a true partnership among professional scientists, secondary school teachers, and curriculum specialists to develop curricula materials, based on laboratory research in Immunology, which will enhance science education and student participation in science courses. An important objective is to promote active partnerships in science education programs by AAI members via a mentoring workshop. Specifically, this program is designed to provide summer fellowships for secondary school teachers to work in Immunology research laboratories. It is expected that this experience will enhance their instructional skills and scientific knowledge so that up-to-date fundamental concepts in health science (especially Immunology) can be better integrated into current curricula. Since sufficient innovative exercises illustrating the fundamental principles and concepts in Immunology are not generally available, the teachers will be required to develop lesson plans based on their lab experience, and formulate them with the aid of curricular specialists. We believe that this program must now be extended to include the """"""""education"""""""" of the mentors as to reasonable expectations for the teachers in their labs, as well as to change mentor scientists' attitudes regarding their role in science education reform. We propose mentors workshops to promote effective partnerships and the development of positive attitudes towards participation in these programs. By providing linkages among professional scientists and secondary school teachers, we propose to foster a continuing relationship that will not only stimulate science education, but will also promote the public understanding of science and the role of basic research in improving health. The hypothesis that we will evaluate is that this research experience will engender for the teachers a renewed enthusiasm for science, which will be translated (via the vehicle of their new curricular exercises) in terms of integrated teaching of Immunology, as well as increased student enrollment in science courses, and the pursuit of scientific careers. An instrument will be developed to measure our short-term success.
