Positively Aging: Maximizing the Healthspan
Project Website(s)
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Project Description
Maintaining a healthy life starts in childhood and students must learn the scientific evidence for choices that increase their chances of sustaining physical and mental independence. This project will improve science math and health education in grades 6-8 by teaching students new health information to extend and improve their lives. The project also will improve students’ attitudes toward science which may promote interest in science research and medical careers. The project team developed a teacher professional development program focused on maximizing the healthspan. The project aims to: Develop educational materials based on NIH-funded research on the biology of aging homeostasis allostasis and optimizing the quantity and quality of healthy life Create and evaluate an intensive multi-dimensional model that assesses middle school teacher professional development Evaluate the effectiveness of the teacher professional development program in changing students’ attitudes toward science Disseminate the curriculum through a website teacher workshops presentations at meetings publications in journals and community engagement through the CTSA consortium. The program will improve teachers’ knowledge skills and confidence levels ultimately affecting their students. Its interdisciplinary partnership matches Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio with middle school educators from San Antonio school districts that serve predominantly economically-disadvantaged Mexican- American populations. This partnership will produce freely available instructional materials that improve math and science education quality in public schools and promote understanding of behaviors that reduce disease risk.
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Abstract
Everyone desires to live a healthy life free of disease and disability for as long as possible. The period of optimal functioning is termed the “healthspan” and is a subset of each human’s lifespan. Attaining and maintaining a healthy life starts in childhood and students must learn the scientific evidence for habits and choices that increase their chances of sustaining physical and mental independence throughout their lives. This Phase I and II SEPA application will create evaluate and disseminate novel teaching materials centered on the biology of aging and the scientific processes of homeostasis and allostasis to teach students about Maximizing the Healthspan. Through controlled studies rigorous psychometric re-evaluations of science attitude instruments and teacher observations our team developed new evidence and is poised to test an intensive innovative Teacher Professional Development program with Maximizing the Healthspan as the gerontology focus. The core content of this proposal utilizes information from NIH-funded gerontologic basic translational and patient-oriented clinical research to create novel inquiry-based health promotion lessons that effectively teach science math and health principles at the middle school level. The proposal will utilize these materials in a controlled trial of teacher professional development and evaluate the impact the teachers have on student attitudes toward science. Our continually innovating interdisciplinary partnership matches Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) with middle school educators from multiple school districts in San Antonio Texas. These districts serve predominantly economically disadvantaged Mexican-American populations. This partnership will produce freely available classroom-ready instructional materials that meet SEPA goals to (a) improve math and science education quality in public schools and (b) promote understandings of behavior that reduce disease risk. To accomplish this we set four specific aims: Aim A: Develop new educational materials based on NIH-funded research on the biology of aging homeostasis allostasis and optimizing the quantity and quality of healthy life Aim B: With Maximizing the Healthspan as content utilize our educational partnerships to create and evaluate an intensive novel multi-dimensional model that qualitatively and quantitatively assesses middle school teacher professional development Aim C: Conduct a controlled evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the Positively Aging ® teacher professional development program on changing students’ attitudes toward science as measured by two newly re-evaluated and shortened attitude scales: the Women in Science Scale-Revised (WiSS-R) and the Simpson-Troost Attitude Questionnaire-Revised (STAQ-R) Aim D: Disseminate the curriculum through the Positively Aging ® website teacher workshops presentations at educational and scientific meetings publications in peer-reviewed journals and community engagement through the national Clinical and Translational Science Award consortium. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): This Positively Aging ® proposal will improve science math and health education in grades 6-8 by teaching students new health information based on current NIH supported research to extend and improve their lives. A novel science teacher professional development program created by the Positively Aging ® team will strive to improve teachers’ knowledge skills and confidence levels ultimately affecting their students. In addition this proposal seeks to improve students’ attitudes toward science which may promote career interest in science research and medicine.
