Educational Outreach
Introduction and Overview of Program
Biotechnology and Environmental Health Independent Study, Winter 2011- Classes now in session!
Introduction and Overview of Program (Return to Top)
The primary goal of the Educational Outreach Program is to develop and enhance the connection between classroom science and community relevance. We believe that increasing teacher and student awareness and understanding of environmental issues, innovative science techniques and concepts, and pedagogical advancements in the classroom can have positive impacts on community agency in the wellbeing and amelioration of local environmental health. We work with the local and educational community in a collaborative effort to improve the educational opportunities for all students and teachers in our region.
Our objectives are:
- To translate research information into knowledge applied to public health;
- To focus public and community outreach education initiatives on reducing environmental disease risk and/or hazard exposure;
- To develop the direction of the COEP in parallel with the research strengths of the Program.
Programs include:
- Summer Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Teachers on Environmental Health-Based Biotechnology (June-July 2011)
- Biotechnology and Environmental Health Independent Study (Winter 2011)
2010 WSU IEHS Summer Institute Faculty and Participants
WSU's Institute of Environmental Health Sciences hosted the 2010 Summer Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Teachers on Environmental Health-Based Biotechnology from June 30-July 29, 2010 at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Summer Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Teachers on Environmental Health-Based Biotechnology
Summer Institute 2011
- Program Dates: June 29 - July 29, 2011
- Days/Time: Tuesday - Friday, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
- Location: Wayne State University, Detroit
The Summer Institute is supported by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences Grant #1RC1ES018406.
About the Summer Institute (Return to Top)
The Summer Institute for STEM Teachers offers research-centered professional development to current secondary education STEM teachers. The program promotes job creation and sustainability by increasing the understanding of science concepts and skills for teachers and their students in the adversely economically impacted Detroit area. The program is intended to continue in Detroit high schools beyond the granting period through continued availability of the Internet accessible materials and communication via the development of a Virtual Learning Community for teachers-by teachers.
This intensive, five-week course offers practicing teachers the opportunity to develop lesson plans for high school science classrooms that focus on techniques and skills that are necessary to work in biotechnology related careers. Teachers will also get opportunities to obtain “hands-on” and theoretical experience with biotechnology lab tools, discuss current issues in environmental health sciences, explore environmental hazards in Detroit, and use online teacher community resources.
Special Guests!
Julie Johnson, Director of Detroit Children's Museum
Julie Johnson, director of Detroit Children's Museum, has 6 years experience in museums and science centers, and over 15 years experience as a classroom educator. She holds a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction from California State University and a Bachelor's degree in General Science from Grand Valley State University.
Ms. Johnson taught eight of her 15 years in middle school science in an urban setting. She was asked to teach her fellow peers a Hands-on science program, where she received a commendation from her principal. The remainder of her classroom experience was in elementary school where she taught all subjects including intersession/intervention language arts and mathematics to at risk students in grades 1-5. Her belief that every child can learn showed in her hands on approach to all subjects and how she taught interdisciplinary projects throughout her teaching career. In addition, to her classroom expertise, she has been an administrative designee, student body advisor, department chair and has held many other extracurricular leadership roles.
Ms. Johnson transitioned from the classroom to an educator in cultural institutions in 2005. She has worked on such exhibits as Grossology and Ancient Egyptians, Quest for Immorality at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Shoot for the Moon and Mission Moon, at the Adler Planetarium and Our Body, The Universe Within, Animal Grossology, at the Detroit Science Center and is now the Director of the Detroit Children's Museum. She supervises all aspects of the museum including exhibits, collections, lending collections, scouts, camps, and all marketing and daily operations of th building.
Open your mind with Ms. Johnson at the Detroit Science Center!
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kathleen Vandiver, Ph.D., Outreach Director for the Center for Environmental Health Sciences
Kathleen Vandiver, with a Ph.D. in cell biology from Tufts University Medical School, spent several years in research. She then obtained her M.A. in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and taught sixth grade science at a public middle school for 16 years. While teaching in Lexington, MA, she created a LEGO model for Biology and Chemistry. Currently, she is an outreach director for the research center at MIT, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). During the past 4 years at MIT, Dr. Vandiver created an exhibit/classroom at the MIT Museum called "Learning Lab: the Cell" where the LEGO molecules are utilized. Classes come on fieldtrips to learn about DNA and Health.
Dr. Vandiver will conduct a workshop called Teaching DNA, Proteins, and Protein Synthesis Concepts with LEGO Molecules. These LEGO molecules were specifically designed to demonstrate key concepts in cellular biology. Because the models do the teaching, a teacher can easily adjust the level of abstract biology vocabulary to be appropriate for the learners.
She normally uses the classroom as a model of the cell. The students (teachers) can move between the cellular compartments as they perform the molecular process. They finish by placing the constructed proteins into the lipid bilayer, and discuss Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease. This presentation can help students relate to the "gene and traits" concepts learned in middle school with the "DNA and protein" concepts learned in high school.
Computers are also utilized for modeling. This workshop will demonstrate STAR BioChem, a 3-D protein viewer and the Concord Consortium Molecular Workbench, bioth available free on-line. With the STAR BioChem program, we will examine the 3-D structure of a DNA repair protein caught on the act of excising a damaged base.
Enjoy this educational and fun experience with Dr. Vandiver and LEGOs!
Graduate Credit
Teachers will be able to earn four graduate course credits.
Gift Certificate for Equipment and Supplies
Teachers completing the course receive a gift certificate to order biotechnology equipment or lab kits for your classroom.
Readings and Texts
Teachers will read articles in environmental health sciences, biotechnology, and science education that are related to the laboratory exercises that week. There is also a textbook that will be provided as a resource: Recombinant DNA and Biotechnology: A Guide for Teachers.
Generating Lesson Plans for Biotechnology and Science Fair Projects
Each teacher will create a lesson plan for the lab activities. By the end of the institute, the teachers will have created a portfolio of classroom laboratory lesson plans. The teachers will be provided with an example lesson plan, but are welcome to use their own. Teachers will obtain peer and instructor feedback on lesson plans.
Lesson plans will generally include:
- Benchmarks
- Objectives
- Materials needed
- Sequence of the lesson
- Teacher reflection
Discussing Topics in Environmental Health Sciences
Teachers will engage in weekly discussions about socio scientific issues. This is not graded, but instead intended to help the teachers synthesize the content and lab activities into ideas that are relevant to them and their students.
Biotechnology and Environmental Health Independent Study, Winter 2011 - Classes now in session (Return to Top)
WSU’s IEHS offered a Biotechnology and Environmental Health Independent Study, a two credit course (MTX 6990) in the winter semester 2011. The course involved taking the techniques and methodologies learned at the summer institute and transfering them to the classroom. The class ran from January 11, 2011 to May 3, 2011.
As part of the course, the study used a variety of tools to evaluate the extent of environmental health hazards in their community. One of these tools was using a GPS unit to plot waypoints of identified hazards in the community and then they uploaded this information onto Internet-based mapping software. By using the GPS tools to evaluate the local environment, they were able to make contact and the information available to stakeholders in the community for urban planning purposes. Students also took part in soil testing around their neighborhood.
Upon completion of this course, the students should be able to:
- Identify environmental health hazards
- Understand the utilization of GPS technology
- Understand the utilization of GIS mapping
- Develop a Community Action Strategy for limiting exposure to environmental health hazards in your community
- Share your community action plan with the virtual community created for sharing of data
For additional information, contact M. Dereski by email (m.dereski@wayne.edu) or phone (313-577-5597).
Syllabus
SUMMER INSTITUTE SCHEDULE 2010*
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Week 1: 1. Orientation loading gels / pipetting exercises Week 2: Week 3:
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Week 4: 1. Restriction enzymes, digestion, and analysis Week 5: |
*Schedule subject to change for 2011.
Resources for Summer Institute (Return to Top)
Books
- Mirel, Jeffrey. The Rise and Fall of an Urban School System: Detroit 1907-81. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993.
- Sugrue, Thomas J. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
- Farley, R., Danziger, S. and Holzer, H. Detroit Divided. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2000.
- Kreuzer, H. and Massey, A. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology: A Guide for Teachers. ASM Press, 3rd Edition, 2008.
- Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, 1962.
- Watson, James. The Double Helix; A Personal Account of the Discovery of DNA. New York, NY, 1968.
- Frumkin, Howard. Environmental Health: from Global to Local. Second Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 2010.
- Hamilton, Alice. Exploring the Dangerous Trades:The Autobiography of Alice Hamilton, M.D.
- Jackson, Kenneth. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of The United States. Oxford University Press. New York, NY. 1985.
- Conant, Jeff. and Fadem, Pam. A Community Guide to Environmental Health. Hesperian Foundation. Berkeley, CA. 2009.
Search Engines
1. ERIC: http://www.eric.ed.gov/
2. PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Websites
- BioTechniques: http://www.biotechniques.com/
- Data Driven Detroit: http://www.d-acis.org/
- Detroit Public Schools: http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/
- Human Genome Project: Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues: http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/elsi.shtml
- Michigan Science Teacher Association: http://www.msta-mich.org/
- National Science Teacher Association: http://www.nsta.org/
- National Association of Biology Teachers: http://www.nabt.org/websites/institution/index.php?p=1
For more information:
Mary O. Dereski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Community Outreach and Education Program
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Wayne State University
Eugene Applebaum Pharmacy and Allied Health Building
259 Mack Ave., Room 4116
Detroit, MI 48201
Phone: 313-577-5597
Fax: 313-577-0082
Email: m.dereski@wayne.edu