My Health-My World is a curriculum materials development project of Baylor College of Medicine in partnership with the Amen can Physiological Society, the Texas Medical Association, and the Everyday Learning Corporation. The proposed science education program targets elementary school children in three different learning environments--the classroom, the home, and the community. The proposed project's title, My Health-My World, reflects the need for students, their families, and other citizens to develop a sense of personal involvement in environmental health science issues and to acquire the decision-making skills and knowledge base necessary to make informed choices about the environmental factors that may adversely affect their health. The overall goal of My Health-My World is to promote a deeper understanding of environmental health science concepts, while conveying the excitement of """"""""doing science"""""""" to students in grades K-4. Project goals will be realized through the development of three instructional units. Each unit is designed to translate environmental health science concepts into an educational program that incorporates the whole language approach to learning, integrates problem-solving strategies with fun hands-on activities, and promotes cooperative learning within schools and other settings. Each unit will consist of a science adventure story (Spanish and English), a teachers' guide to activities in the classroom, and a colorful, fun mini-magazine (Spanish and English). The first unit will focus on the role of personal surroundings in influencing health, the second on personal and community health effects of contamination of natural resources, and the third on population-wide health effects of deterioration of global systems. The units will he developed by a team of scientists, educators and science education writers and editors, in close collaboration with active environmental health researchers and other specialists. Each unit will be field tested iii schools in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas. National dissemination of final products will be achieved through ongoing programs of each of the participating institutions and through aggressive national marketing by the Everyday Learning Corporation. Over 4000 students and 150 teachers will be impacted directly through field- testing activities. National dissemination initially will reach more than 200,000 students through contacts established by collaborators in the project.
| Moreno, N P; Tharp, B Z (1999) An interdisciplinary national program developed at Baylor to make science exciting for all K-5 students. Acad Med 74:345-7 |
