A Collaborative Approach to Real-world Science in the Classroom

Project Description

Engaging high school students in biomedical science is critical to educating a scientifically literate citizenry and increasing numbers of biomedical professionals. Studies that demonstrate adolescent disenchantment with school science show students’ interest in real-world science remaining stable.

The goal of this collaboration among Tufts University School of Medicine, the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts and three high schools (Madison Park Technical and Vocational High School, the Boston Latin Academy and the Boston Latin School) from Boston public schools, is, therefore, to engage 11th- and 12th-grade students who do not see the science of their real world experiences mirrored in the classroom. The project will develop and disseminate an inquiry-based biology curriculum focused on current biomedical research in the context of five “great diseases” that challenge global health: infectious, neurological, cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes. Key to the project is aligning content and process in the classroom.

The project’s aims are to:

1. Develop a learning community to guide the professional development underlying the five curricular modules.
2. Develop curricular content, including a syllabus and laboratory exercises, and deliverables for implementation of the curriculum.
3. Disseminate this material into Boston public schools and the broader educational community.
4. Design and implement an evaluation strategy that allows ongoing revision during the project.

The involvement of Tufts graduate and medical schools ensures that the program is sustainable, and the final goal is to establish it as a model of interaction between medical schools and school districts to improve understanding of the biomedical research underlying disease at the high school level.

Abstract

Engaging students in the biomedical sciences while they are still in high school is a critical first step toward educating a scientifically literate citizenry as well as initiating the pipeline that will eventually result in increased numbers of biomedical and health related professionals.

This proposal is a collaboration between biomedical scientists at Tufts University School of Medicine, biology teachers at the Madison Park Technical and Vocational High School, the Boston Latin Academy and the Boston Latin School, all inner city Boston public high schools, and members of the Wright Center for Innovation in Science Education, also at Tufts. Its goal is to engage the imagination of 11th- and 12th-grade students who do not see the science of their real-world experiences mirrored in the classroom. It accomplishes this goal by developing and disseminating a novel inquiry-based high school biology curriculum that focuses on biomedical research in the context of five “great diseases” that challenge global health – infectious, neurological, cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes.

A key element of the proposal is addressing the challenge of aligning content and process in the classroom to enable teachers to create the knowledge-centered classrooms that are critical for learning transfer. Accordingly the first aim is to first develop a learning community that will interactively guide the in-depth professional development underlying each of the five curricular modules. The learning community will then collaborate on the second aim; to develop curricular content and to generate deliverables for implementation of the curriculum in the classroom. This material, which will include a syllabus and web-based virtual and real interactive inquiry-base laboratory exercises, will be disseminated into the Boston public school system, and the broader educational community as part of the third aim.

The fourth aim is to design and implement an evaluation strategy that will allow for ongoing revision during the project to ensure optimization of outcomes. The involvement of Tufts medical and biomedical graduate schools ensures that the program is highly sustainable and our final goal is to establish it as a model of how medical schools and school districts can interact to disseminate understanding of the biomedical research underlying disease at the high school level.

Disappointingly, even after significant efforts at pedagogical reform, research continues to document adolescents steadily losing interest in science throughout high school. The economic impact of this disenchantment is significant and the life science/biomedical sector is growing slowly due to lack of a qualified work force, particularly in mid-level jobs. There is some cause for optimism: the same studies that demonstrate adolescent disenchantment with “school” science show their interest in “real-world” science remaining stable over the same time frame.

We postulate that students will only become engaged and able to visualize themselves as science professionals when they see the science of their real world experiences mirrored in the classroom. We address this hypothesis by generating an innovative curriculum designed to capture adolescent imaginations by focusing on the cutting-edge research underlying five “great diseases” that impact global public health. We design the curriculum using a learning community consisting of practitioners of science and teachers of science whose goal is to collaborate to generate the content knowledge that will facilitate learning transfer in a knowledge-centered classroom.