Micro- and Nano-Space Explorations of Health and Disease
Project Website(s)
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Project Description
The unseen world both living and non-living at the micro-scale and the nano-scale has inordinate importance for health and disease and is only made visible in detail through the appropriate tools of microscopy. In this project University of Southern Maine (USM) faculty and staff with expertise in electron microscopy microbiology virology and immunology team up with elementary and middle school education and outreach specialists and the staff of USM’s Southworth Planetarium to reveal vast but usually invisible micro-space/nano-space worlds to students through curriculum development work with grades 3-8 teachers in the summer and K-12 teachers during the academic year. Grades 3-8 teachers participating in the summer program return to their classrooms with new light microscopy and curriculum resources and are provided with outreach support in their use of these resources. Resources generated also contribute to new micro- and nano-space planetarium shows that will reach many audiences. Phase I of the project (years 1 to 3) will emphasize collaboration of biomedical sciences faculty and staff teacher participants and the staff of USM’s Southworth Planetarium on curriculum materials and production of visual resources for far-reaching educational outreach. Phase II of the project will focus on dissemination of curricula and other products of the project while expanding outreach efforts throughout Maine and integrating the academic year programs for K-12 teachers into the academic offerings of the Department of Applied Medical Sciences. Specific goals of the project are to: Reveal directly (with minimal abstraction) to K-12 teachers their students and the general public the biological entities and molecular processes at micro- and nano-scales that dramatically impact human health Support through new summer and academic year programs collaborative partnership of teachers and university scientists in developing grade level appropriate standards-based curriculum units that will illuminate the impact of the micro- and nano-scale realms on human health Extend collaborative efforts to include development of micro-space/nano-space planetarium shows to be produced and piloted at the USM Southworth Planetarium and then distributed to planetariums nationally Sustain the partnership and disseminate regionally and nationally the curriculum materials collaboratively developed during the partnership through publications a project website professional presentations contributions to digital library resources and active classroom outreach by USM science education outreach staff and programs
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Abstract
The unseen world both living and non-living at the micro-scale and the nano-scale has inordinate importance for health and disease and is only made visible in detail through the appropriate tools of microscopy. In this project University of Southern Maine (USM) faculty and staff with expertise in electron microscopy microbiology virology and immunology team up with elementary and middle school education and outreach specialists and the staff of USM’s Southworth Planetarium to reveal vast but usually invisible micro-space/nano-space worlds to grades 3-8 students and K-12 teachers and ultimately to bring these worlds to students across Maine and the nation. Starting with macroscopic and multi-sensory observations the project staff (during Phase I) will enhance visual perception of program participants by more than five orders of magnitude using USM microscopy resources including a new Tecnai BioTwin fully digital transmission electron microscope (TEM) with advanced tomography capabilities in the USM Virology and TEM Laboratory that the PI directs. Phase I of the project (years 1 to 3) will emphasize collaboration of biomedical sciences faculty and staff K-12 participants and the staff of USM’s Southworth Planetarium on curriculum materials and production of visual resources for far-reaching educational outreach. Phase II of the project will focus on dissemination of curricula and other products of the project while expanding outreach efforts throughout Maine and integrating the academic year programs for K-12 teachers into the academic offerings of the Department of Applied Medical Sciences.
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Dissemination Strategies
Web resources development Contribution of images and curriculum units to digital libraries and journals Micro- and nano-space curriculum and planetarium show distribution Classroom outreach by university staff
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Project Evaluation(s)
The evaluators are working closely with USM project leaders throughout the course of the project in order to design and implement the specifics of the evaluation work and ensure that they are well integrated into the project’s activities. The evaluators will make two site visits per year to collect data and meet with project leaders to share findings and discuss their implications for the project as it proceeds. In addition the evaluators will prepare annual written reports. The evaluation plan includes formative and summative assessments and is designed to explicitly address the two distinct phases of the project by focusing on the following evaluation questions: How does participation in summer and/or academic year professional development influence teachers’ acquisition of microscopy skills and knowledge of key aspects of micro- and nano-space that relate to human health and disease? How does participation in summer and/or academic year professional development influence teachers’ attitudes toward the microbial world? To what extent does participation in summer and/or academic year professional development enable teachers to implement curricula in their classrooms such that students’ interest in and knowledge of the microbial world is increased? What features of the summer and academic year professional development programs are most closely associated with teachers’ subsequent positive classroom experiences? To what extent has the design/implementation of new courses in microbiology virology and infectious disease epidemiology incorporated evaluation findings from Phase I? To what extent has the design and implementation of the outreach program addressed issues related to long-term sustainability including financial planning participant recruitment ongoing curriculum development and quality control? Data collection: (In Phase I) – All participants in the summer and academic year programs will contribute to the evaluation via pre- and post-tests. In addition they will all be asked to contribute further to the evaluation via interviews focus groups and surveys. Thus it is anticipated that approximately 108 teachers will contribute to the evaluation in the first three years. Impacts for two types of participants (i.e. those engaging in the summer program versus those engaging in the academic year program) will be compared in order to understand whether and what differences exist between the nature of the professional development experience and the impact on teachers’ content knowledge skill and subsequent classroom instruction. (In Phase II) – In order to address the evaluation questions for Phase II of the project interviews with project leaders and others as identified will be conducted program and course materials will be reviewed course observations will be conducted and course participants will be surveyed. Data analysis: Quantitative data analysis will include standard descriptive statistics analysis of variance techniques and correlation analyses; qualitative data will be analyzed using Atlas.ti software and will employ qualitative analysis techniques such as open axial and selective coding (Strauss and Corbin 1990) to analyze and synthesize the data.
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Resources for Sharing
Project is just beginning but will share curriculum materials light and electron microscopy resources images and new planetarium shows as they are produced.
Project Audience
Teachers (grade 3-8 in summer program and K-12 in academic year) students (grade 3-8 primarily) and adult public (in public dissemination aspects of the project).
Subjects Addressed
Microbiology virology immunology light and electron microscopy.
