The overall goal of the Phase I SBIR proposal is to test the feasibility of Biology Take-Out science activity kits for high school students. These pre-assembled kits will permit students to obtain hands-on science experiences in a variety of educational settings without the need for laboratory facilities, equipment or teacher preparation. Hands-on laboratory experiences can help high school students to master scientific subject matter, develop their scientific reasoning skills, and increase their interest in science. Unfortunately, the quality of science laboratory experiences is poor for most U.S. high school students. Many high school science teachers have difficulty providing their students with hands-on science laboratory experiences because they have limited access to laboratory facilities, supplies or resources. Additional barriers include inadequate teacher preparation time or lack of teacher experience in preparing and implementing lab activities. These obstacles are significantly increased for educators in urban, rural and alternative educational settings. Biology Take-Out kits will help high school biology teachers overcome these obstacles by providing students with easy access to hands-on laboratory activities. These kits will contain high school-level, hands-on science activities packaged for individual student use, and will require minimal teacher preparation time. Biology Take-Out kits will not require access to laboratory facilities, making them suitable for use in alternative education settings. Student instructions will include appealing illustrations and will be written at a level that is appropriate for students with average to below average reading abilities. Biology Take-Out kits have potential for widespread use by teachers who: Have limited access to laboratory facilities and equipment;Do not have time and/or skills to do laboratory preparations;Struggle to provide make-up labs for students who have been absent from class;Need hands-on lab experiences for students on home instruction or in alternative education settings. The goals for this SBIR Phase I proposal are: 1. To test the feasibility of a design format for Biology Take-Out kit components - including the student instructions for the lab procedures, teacher information, kit supplies and packaging;2. To evaluate the characteristics of Biology Take-Out kits that influence their potential adoption. During this Phase I SBIR project we will develop a minimum of five different Biology Take-Out activity kits. We will then conduct focus groups with a diverse group of 50 New York State high school science teachers, followed by pilot testing of Biology Take-Out activity kits by 20 high school science teachers. We will collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative evaluation data from teacher surveys, discussions and interviews.
The relevance of this project to public health is that the Biology Take-Out laboratory activity kits will provide teachers with access to hands-on biology lab experiences to help their students master scientific subject matter and develop their scientific reasoning skills as well as increase their interest in science. The project will create and field test educational materials to promote student understanding of biological concepts. This information will allow teachers to help their students become better informed for decisions involving their health.
