This initiative seeks to increase, through the medium of science fair participation, science literacy, minority participation in science, and the availability of social capital for disadvantaged urban youth. To enable science teachers and adult mentors to get more students at middle and high school levels involved in science fairs, the project will offer training in research methods, technical assistance regarding science fairs, and other resources to science teachers in grades 6-12 from two school districts in southern New Jersey: Camden and Penns Grove/Camey's Point. In each summer of a 4-year project, selected science teachers and mentors will participate in a 5-week workshop to learn how to use research templates to study the effects of drugs and the nature of drug abuse and addiction. To enhance science literacy (Aim 1), participants will learn how to promote inquiry-based learning in their students and engage them in the process of doing science by using the templates to produce interesting, novel projects for science fairs. Increased minority participation in science (Aim 2) will occur because most participants to be selected teach classes of predominantly minority students. To increase social capital availability (Aim 3), the project will include older adult mentors and college students in training; participants will also visit active researchers and research centers in the Delaware Valley area to learn about current scientific developments and establish additional contacts for mentoring. During the academic year, SPARC 2000+ will provide administrative support and technical assistance to participating teachers and mentors as they help students prepare and carry out science fair research. Project dissemination will include the arranging of opportunities for students to present their projects in elementary schools, in libraries, in community centers, in science expos and at research luncheons, so that they may share their newfound knowledge with their communities. This project is expected to significantly increase the number and quality of science fair projects related to understanding drugs and their effects and thereby increase, in the pre-college community, both the visibility of scientific study of drugs of abuse and scientific literacy about drug abuse and drug addiction.
