Interdisciplinary (99) This project develops a comprehensive laboratory curriculum to improve biology courses that specifically engages undergraduate STEM students in the Appalachian Southern Ohio population. Appalachian residents are interested in pursuing science degrees or health-related professions that allow them to stay in the area. Before this project, residents had to leave the area to gain this type of education. The new curriculum enhances the first two years towards a B.S. (to be completed at the Ohio University-Athens campus), provides previously unavailable course credits towards completion of a minor in Biology at the resident campus, and expands the resident campus program associates degree in health technologies. In addition, the outreach program, HS to College STEM, is expanding to inform and recruit more students from area high schools. New partnerships with Tri-State area (OH, KY, WV) medical facilities are forming for the purpose of training students, and employing the histotechnicians that graduate from the expanded health technologies program.
Notable elements of this curriculum are (1) inquiry-based investigations and case-studies include endogenous species and environmental concerns which are locally relevant to students in the rural Appalachian region; and (2) hands-on projects involving laboratory-based imaging techniques in the areas of biology, microanatomy, and histopathology, which were not previously available to these students. Furthermore, not only is this curriculum engaging to the student population, but is relevant to the community through its focus on addressing community problems.
