Students Getting "HEADS UP" on How Science Becomes a Career
It's a situation a seventh-grader can understand.
A buddy on a skateboard falls hard on a concrete sidewalk and is knocked unconscious.
It's scary-and an innovative way for students to learn about something that otherwise might leave them cold-the central nervous system.
A video using actual Houston seventh-graders (not actors) is one tool of a ground-breaking curriculum for middle school students developed by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Called HEADS UP (Health Education and Discovering Science while Unlocking Potential), the curriculum is the product of a partnership that includes the UT Medical School and School of Public Health, the Spring Branch Independent School District, Project GRAD of the Houston Independent School District, the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library and the Texas Medical Center.
"Teachers really need resources to help enhance what they are doing," said Nathalie Sessions, HEADS UP project director. "For the students, we believe they will feel better about science, more confident in it and may become interested in health and science careers. The ultimate goal is to disseminate the information nationwide and we are looking into options of how to make it available to more school districts locally, statewide and nationally."
A recent $1.5 million grant from a Science Education Partnership Award by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health will allow the program to expand.
At its core, the curriculum project brings together students and teachers with health and science professionals who are eager to share their excitement and experience.
Nancy G. Murray, DrPH
"Most of us in this business want to give something to K-through-12 education. Health professionals making available their cutting-edge knowledge to teachers is one way to do it," said Nancy G. Murray, DrPH , assistant professor of behavioral sciences in the School of Public Health and principal investigator of the project.
"This kind of curriculum could never be produced by a school system alone because we do not have the experts, the expertise, nor do we have the financial resources to produce just one small piece of curriculum to this level," said Mary Hobbs, M.Ed., science administrator for SBISD.
The video has proven to be the critical piece in generating excitement from the middle school students, Sessions said.
In the nervous system video, professionals from Memorial Hermann Hospital, the McGovern museum, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) and the UT Medical School give information in response to queries from the student actors and tell their own personal stories. The professionals include John H. Byrne, Ph.D., director of UT's Neuroscience Research Center and chairman of the Medical School Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, and Pedro Mancias, M.D., associate professor of neurology.
"I think HEADS UP is a step beyond just interactive video. It's not a speaker coming in as an expert and giving kids information. The HEADS UP format is kids going out and seeking information from experts. And that's really the teaching/learning scenario that we're trying to move all of education toward," Hobbs said.
Modules include CD-ROMs, videotapes, lesson plans and classroom activities. The central nervous system is the seventh-grade module. Sixth-grade modules include "Genes, Health & You," "Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease" and "Nutrition & Physical Activity."
In addition, the project includes a fifth-grade program called Science Corner that awards grants to teachers for purchasing science technology and laboratory equipment.
Over the past two years, Spring Branch students and teachers have helped test and fine-tune the modules, which are now being expanded to HISD and Rio Grande Valley middle schools.
The HISD schools, which began implementing modules last fall in a test pilot, are part of Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), a program that includes middle schools in areas of economically disadvantaged children.
Rio Grande ISD teachers are currently being trained to teach the modules through the Texas Education Agency's Region I Education Service Center. Sessions said the project is looking for potential partners to translate the modules into Spanish.
"Science teachers traditionally don't have access to genetics labs, advanced medical technology, years and years of knowledge in the medical field or even, in many cases, the funding for field trips to visit places that have those things. So it's really unique and really wonderful to be able to bring the experts, the technology, the equipment to the kids; actually to bring them into the classroom and be able to still interact like we were really there," said Robert Williams, a seventh-grade science teacher at Northbrook Elementary School.
A fifth module on advanced genetics for eighth-graders is now being developed as part of the grant.
"It's getting more and more exciting," Murray said. "We're partnering with the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the new module."
Murray said the team will begin work on a module on the immune system in 2006 with health professionals at The University of Texas Brownsville/Texas Southmost College.
Expansion of the program to other school districts will depend on future funding.
Disease prevention programs and community outreach are both included as goals of a federal Project EXPORT (Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities and Training) grant that created the UT Center for Studying Hispanic Health Issues. The center is a collaboration between the UT School of Public Health and UTB/TSC.
The HEADS UP project also is designed to increase health knowledge by the community with a series of free parent information events.
"One seventh-grade child told us that after her grandfather had a heart attack, not only did she understand the information from the doctor, but she helped her parents understand," Murray said.
— Deborah Mann Lake
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