There is a critical and growing shortage of students interested in biomedical research. This shortage is visible at all stages of student development, but is especially prevalent among minority students in high schools. The most effective measures to address this problem involved the infusion of the excitement, drama and intellectual stimulation of research into the education experience. The University of Missouri- Columbia proposes to enhance and expand a highly successful three part program which targets secondary school science teachers (and through them their students), pre-service teachers (science education majors), and high school seniors, and provides all of them individualized summer research experiences in combination with special enrichment activities. Two high school teachers will participate, along with ten teachers funded by other agencies, in a five-week summer research program at MU. In addition to working with research mentors in Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, these teachers will work with Science Education faculty to develop new lesson plans for their classrooms that build upon their individual research experiences. The inservice teachers will come from high schools with a predominant minority student body. Two pre-service teachers (MU science education majors) will participate in an eight-week summer research internship program that will include 30 other college students from MU and three historically Black universities. Their program will culminate in an Undergraduate Science Symposium. Ten minority high school seniors who have chosen to enrol at MU in the fall with participant in a six-week summer research program which will also include enrichment activities proven to aid in the transition to college. In the fall, these high school students will continue their research projects via the MU-funded EXPRESS (Exposure to Research for Science Students) Program for minority freshmen.
