Wayne State University College Nursing Research Apprentice Program This proposal seeks funding for three years to continue the College of Nursing's successful nine-year program of mentoring minority high school students and their teachers. Each year, eight minority high school students, one science teacher-in-training, and two high school science teachers from Detroit would participate in the proposed two part program. The first part consists of a six week intensive schedule program for all participants involving a mentored research experience with a College of Nursing faculty researcher supplemented with special seminars, workshops, and field trips. Participants carry out activities for their mentors' projects as well as conducting a small research study of their own. A computer workshop prepares participants to use a number of popular PC programs: WordPerfect (for word processing), D Base III for data entry, DOS for general computer use, SPSS for data processing, Lotus 1-2-3, a popular spreadsheet program and Power Point for graphics. Participants will also have some experience in communication between the PC and the University's mainframes computer. Weekly seminars will broaden participants; knowledge of research methods and awareness of the diversity of nursing research through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations by faculty mentors to the total group. Field trips to the research laboratories in physiology, pharmacology, psychology, and an affiliated teaching/research hospital, as well as observing a regular meeting of the University's IRB round out this program. Special activities will be provided for the preservice and high school teachers aimed at helping them plan for curriculum changes they may wish to make. The second component of the program is 75 hours in length and it tailored by the research apprentice and his/her mentor to meet the apprentice's unique needs and research interests. These 75 hours are completed either during the rest of the summer of the during the following school year. Thus this is a program that balances a set of planned experience for all participants with flexibility that allows individual participants to fulfill their own expectations. Our nine-year experience supports a program that is well-established, has the cooperation of the research faculty who would serve as mentors, as well as administration of the College and University, and most important, has been successful in achieving the aims of this initiative.
