Currently, US high school students rank low in science and math compared to their peers in other nations. The Alcohol Pharmacology Education Partnership (A-PEP) is designed to help high school students learn biology, chemistry, and math better by presenting basic concepts within the context of alcohol pharmacology. The basis for pursuing this project results from outstanding effectiveness of our previous program that focuses on drugs of abuse. Here we present a research plan to produce and deliver a new instructional program to high school biology and chemistry students using high quality materials (hard copy and web-based) and current distance learning technologies. We will develop instructional modules for high school teachers to reinforce basic biology, chemistry, and math concepts using the science of alcohol use and abuse as a relevant context. The specific objectives are: 1) Develop a series of 6 modules that use principles of biology, chemistry, and math to describe the actions of alcohol in the body. 2) Build an interactive website for teachers and students to access the alcohol pharmacology modules during the fieldtesting. 3) Recruit approximately 300 high school biology and chemistry teachers nationwide to field-test the modules (teachers serve as their own controls). 4) Conduct 2 types of teacher training workshops; a 6-hour on-site workshop at the annual NSTA and NCSTA meetings and a 6-hour two-way video workshop with simultaneous broadcast between the NC School of Science and Math (NCSSM) and school districts throughout the US. In the workshops, high school biology and chemistry teachers will obtain background for the science content and work with scientists to design supplemental activities. 5) Field-test the modules. After participating in the workshops, teachers use the modules in biology and chemistry classes. 6) Determine the program's outcomes. Students (in control and experimental groups) will be given end-of-course tests containing questions of basic biology and chemistry knowledge, as well as advanced knowledge about alcohol pharmacology. About 15,000 students will be tested; analysis will use hierarchichal linear modeling. Teachers will be tested on pharmacology knowledge before and after the workshop, and again 1 year later. 7) Publish results and release the curriculum on the A-PEP website. The application of biology, chemistry, and math to alcohol use should stimulate thinking about the importance of these sciences in """"""""every day life"""""""" and help students understand how alcohol actually works and affects their bodies. Based on our previous study, the students learn science better too.
| Godin, Elizabeth A; Kwiek, Nicole; Sikes, Suzanne S et al. (2014) Alcohol Pharmacology Education Partnership: Using Chemistry and Biology Concepts To Educate High School Students about Alcohol. J Chem Educ 91:165-172 |
