The long-term goal of the proposed Science Education Partnership is to develop (and later to disseminate) an engaging model for enhancing environmental and health science education of grade levels 6-8 in rural settings. Environmental health in the rural setting will be emphasized because of public concern for increased numbers of environmentally health-related diseases in rural Texas (birth defects, lead poisoning, etc.). Further, the Center for Environmental and Rural Health (CERH) can provide knowledge and research experiences for outreach. Middle school grade levels are chosen to focus the application on the prime developmental period for social skills of public school students. Although this period has received little educational reform in the past decade, the middle school period is central to channeling every young adolescent into the mainstream of American life by making vast improvements in their academic and personal competence (and resulting societal contribution). It is the most powerful venue to ensure our nation's leadership in math and science education. Rural schools are less likely than metropolitan schools to receive state of the art information on environmental health issues, but may need it most. Rural schools have less interaction with college professors that might influence their career choices. Environmental health information provided by faculty in the CERH will be organized into a middle school scientific curriculum by the College of Education and disseminated into rural settings via existing mass media distant learning methods (SCR TEC, FORUM98) and professional teacher development programs. The scientist-student approach will direct faculty human interface with public schools.
The specific aims are: 1) to develop engaging multimedia learning materials tailored for rural middle school students (develop a health science curriculum transmitted to public schools via currently established and popular Internet Websites); 2) to provide professional staff development programs (develop/execute short courses for teachers that integrate implementing Web-based environmental and health science curriculum units that describe distant education design options with current state of knowledge in environmental health, and that enhance teachers' awareness of rural health problems and potential solutions); and 3) to provide a human interface and online interaction to establish partnerships between public middle school students and scientists directly (faculty and graduate students visit and present scientific findings and excitement of doing research to students directly and on-line). Through information on new discoveries and the power of basic science to help solve public health problems, the knowledge that certain behaviors/situations increase risk of disease and that basic research is needed to improve public health will be publicized. These proposed specific aims will improve the public understanding of health sciences and encourage a large number of students to enter and remain in science academic tracks to produce the nation's needed workforce for future scientists and related workers in biomedical and health-related sciences.
| Johnson, Larry; Staub, Christophe; Silge, Robert L et al. (2002) The pesticide methoxychlor given orally during the perinatal/juvenile period, reduced the spermatogenic potential of males as adults by reducing their Sertoli cell number. Reprod Nutr Dev 42:573-80 |
