Strategies for Avoiding Reinventing the Precollege Education and Outreach Wheel

Genetics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 166 (4) ◽  
pp. 1601-1609
Author(s):  
Erin L Dolan ◽  
Barbara E Soots ◽  
Peggy G Lemaux ◽  
Seung Y Rhee ◽  
Leonore Reiser
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Participant Satisfaction ◽  
Principal Investigators ◽  
Program Success ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
National Science ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Further Development

Abstract The National Science Foundation’s recent mandate that all Principal Investigators address the broader impacts of their research has prompted an unprecedented number of scientists to seek opportunities to participate in precollege education and outreach. To help interested geneticists avoid duplicating efforts and make use of existing resources, we examined several precollege genetics, genomics, and biotechnology education efforts and noted the elements that contributed to their success, indicated by program expansion, participant satisfaction, or participant learning. Identifying a specific audience and their needs and resources, involving K–12 teachers in program development, and evaluating program efforts are integral to program success. We highlighted a few innovative programs to illustrate these findings. Challenges that may compromise further development and dissemination of these programs include absence of reward systems for participation in outreach as well as lack of training for scientists doing outreach. Several programs and institutions are tackling these issues in ways that will help sustain outreach efforts while allowing them to be modified to meet the changing needs of their participants, including scientists, teachers, and students. Most importantly, resources and personnel are available to facilitate greater and deeper involvement of scientists in precollege and public education.

Assessing Broader Impacts

MRS Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (31-32) ◽  
pp. 1681-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oludurotimi O. Adetunji ◽  
Susan. D. Renoe
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
Principal Investigators ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
National Science ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Growing Network ◽  
National Alliance

ABSTRACTThe National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) seeks to foster a community of practice that increases individual and institutional capacity for, and engagement in, broader impact (BI) activities and scholarship. NABI currently has 537 individual members representing more than 210 institutions and organizations who are part of the growing network of professionals. The National Science Foundation (NSF) evaluates all proposals on their intellectual merit and their broader impacts. Many investigators grapple with how to articulate and effectively engage broad audiences in materials science and STEM. Here, we describe the effort of NABI to address BI challenges, present the NABI document Broader Impacts, Guiding Principles and Questions for National Science Foundation Principal Investigators and Proposal Reviewers; highlight the impacts of NABI as a catalyst for building BI capacity; and provide an example of assessing an innovative program’s BI.

scholarly journals Developing Science Education and Outreach Partnerships at Research Institutions

1998 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 230-234
Author(s):  
K. L. Dow
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Research Institutions ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
K 12 ◽  
New Education

Like many research institutions, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysicsf (CfA), has been actively engaged in education and public outreach activities for many years. The Harvard University Department of Astronomy, the formal higher education arm of the CfA, offers an undergraduate concentration and a doctoral program. In our Science Education Department, educational researchers manage ten programs that address the needs of teachers and students (K-12 and college), through advanced technology, teacher enhancement programs, and the development of curriculum materials. The Editorial and Public Affairs Department offers several public lecture series, recorded sky information, children's nights, and runs the Whipple Observatory Visitors Center in Amado, AZ. In this environment of successful programs, the High Energy Astrophysics (HEA) division, one of seven research divisions at the CfA, has initiated, or partnered with other institutions, development of several new education and outreach programs. Some of these programs involve partnerships with the education community, but all of them have been initiated by and involve scientists.

scholarly journals Pandemic Education: Dissensus, Achievement, Enclosure

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-99
Author(s):  
Matthew Chrisler
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Virtual Schooling ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
History Of ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Phoenix Metropolitan Area

Abstract Alongside a crisis of public health, COVID-19 has also engendered a crisis of social reproduction in the domain of public education. Drawing on conversations and collaborations with K-12 education advocates in the Phoenix metropolitan area, this essay deploys an activist methodology to identify political struggles and turn the ethnographic lens onto the publics and political economies that shape them. After situating contemporary Phoenix schooling in the regional history of the southwest-turned-sunbelt, I examine emerging features of pandemic education in 2020: managed dissensus, caretaking achievement, and education technology enclosures. I retool the concept of “managed dissensus” to argue that, in polarizing debates about the pandemic, conservative politics shifted from consent to coercion in order to maintain priorities of privatizing education and “reopening” the economy. Further, as districts pursued virtual schooling, I show how an institutional project of caretaking achievement produced new patterns of alienation, disengagement, and punishment among teachers and students. Third, I consider how technology created unequal enclosures of parents and students in new gendered, racialized, and ableist regimes of education. As the pandemic continues into 2021, anthropologists should continue to examine public education and social reproduction as sites where state power, racism, and colonialism are expressed and transformed.

Assessment and Management of Mercury-Catalyzed Polyurethane Gym Floors: 10 Lessons from 10 New Jersey School Districts

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lynch ◽  
Elissa Favata ◽  
Michael Gochfeld ◽  
Richard Lynch
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Mercury Vapor ◽  
Mercury Exposure ◽  
Air Monitoring ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Floor Coverings ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Effective Assessment ◽  
Assessment Strategies

Objective: Mercury catalyzed polyurethane (MCPU) floors installed in K-12 gymnasiums may release mercury vapor presenting possible mercury exposure to teachers and students. Varied approaches to sampling, air monitoring, ventilation, evacuation of gyms and/or removal of the floor coverings have occurred. As many gyms are being converted to classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic, effective assessment and management of these floors is essential. Methods: Mercury assessment strategies for 10 New Jersey schools with MCPU floors were reviewed to assist school districts with decisions for management in-place or removal. Results: Bulk mercury levels do not predict airborne mercury levels. Mercury generation rates ranged between 0.02 to 0.17 μg/ft2/ hour. Hazards encountered during removal are substantial. Conclusions: Decisions to manage or remove mercury catalyzed rubber-like gym floor should be based upon a rigorous multi-factor assessment. Mercury exposures often can be managed via HVAC, added ventilation, temperature, and maintenance controls. A statewide registry of MCPU floors should be considered. Removal of MCPU floors should be professionally monitored to protect teachers, staff, and students.

scholarly journals Integrating a K-12 Education and Outreach Initiative into a Sustainability Research Network (Work in Progress)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Knight ◽  
Michael Hannigan ◽  
Madeline Polmear ◽  
Lisa Gardiner ◽  
Katya Hafich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Network ◽  
Work In Progress ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Outreach Initiative

scholarly journals The Charter School Law in Massachusetts: Analysis, Commentary, Wish

2014 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
David I. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Law ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Testing Ground ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Charter School Law ◽  
The U.S

Nowhere is the link between the right's national political agenda and the privatization of public education clearer than in Massachusetts.  In November 1995, just weeks before announcing that he would run for the U.S. Senate against the liberal Democratic incumbent John Kerry, Governor William Weld unveiled a truly radical plan for reshaping K-12 education that could make Massachusetts the testing ground for every weapon in the privatization arsenal.

Small Fish, Big Questions: Inquiry Kits for Teaching Evolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily A. Kane ◽  
E. Dale Broder ◽  
Andrew C. Warnock ◽  
Courtney M. Butler ◽  
A. Lynne Judish ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolution Education ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Evolution education poses unique challenges because students can have preconceptions that bias their learning. Hands-on, inquiry approaches can help overcome preset beliefs held by students, but few such programs exist and teachers typically lack access to these resources. Experiential learning in the form of self-guided kits can allow evolution education programs to maximize their reach while still maintaining a high-quality resource. We created an inquiry-based kit that uses live Trinidadian guppies to teach evolution by natural selection using the VIST (Variation, Inheritance, Selection, Time) framework. Our collaborative team included evolutionary biologists and education specialists, and we were able to combine expertise in evolution research and inquiry-based kit design in the development of this program. By constructing the kits with grant funds slated for broader impacts and maintaining them at our university's Education and Outreach Center, we made these kits freely available to local schools over the long term. Students and teachers have praised how clearly the kits teach evolution by natural selection, and we are excited to share this resource with readers of The American Biology Teacher.

Features of using technology of project training to increase the interest of students studying biology

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-181
Author(s):  
G. Baitasheva ◽  
◽  
А. Musina ◽  
A. Issayeva ◽  
Zh. Myrzabaeva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Group Work ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Further Development

On the basis of the updated educational program were discussed issues of application of design technologies, in biology lessons in the section «Cell Biology» on the method of spiral training. Communication between parents, teachers and students is provided for in project technology. The point is that interest in the topic will increase by asking questions to parents. I was asked to voice my question, share my ideas through group work. The analysis of the works of these scientists is carried out and some stages of application are noted. In order to increase the interest of students studying the subject of biology, the specifics of the use of technology in project training are determined. In the field of biology are defined stages of work aimed at further development and consolidation of data on the topic «Cell Biology». The role of the teacher was shown. Highlighted the relationship of parents with children and friendship, communication in the classroom.

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