Teachers test new module for science lessons

Science extends beyond beakers and test tubes, includes social issues too

What does science class have to do with the social effects of Hurricane Katrina, or the possible spread of a pandemic flu? To help engage and interest students in learning about science and its practical application, researchers from the University of Missouri explore these kind of questions in a new way to deliver science curriculum. Teachers from across Missouri came to Columbia to tryout and give feedback on the module’s preliminary version, “Mapping Health.”

“The teachers are experiencing a new way of teaching,” says Marcelle Siegel, a co-principal investigator on the University of Missouri research team and assistant professor of science education. “They practice teaching each other and discuss the Mapping Health module so that they can be more comfortable applying it in real classrooms.”

Using a broad approach 

The Maps in Medicine Summer Institute also focuses on diversity issues. The Mapping Health module is similar to a unit of a course, which includes teacher and student materials, labs, background information and assessments. Siegel says a primary goal is to have all students achieve in the classroom and beyond. That’s why she’s incorporated the promotion of careers in the sciences into the curriculum as well.

“By showing how science is put to use in practical ways, students may take on a more professional-related interest,” Siegel says. “We visited MU’s Veterinary Center so the teachers could learn more about careers in veterinary medicine. Today, we’re opening our discussion on the pandemic flu with a video about the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina disaster.”

The video inspired the teachers posing-as-students to think about disaster appropriations: How could we distribute resources? Which officials should help? Who should be helped first? After seeing the video and having read last night’s assignment on the pandemic flu, the teachers were prepped for a conversation about the social aspects of science.

Ninfa Matiase and Cathy Farrar, both teachers from Normandy High School in St. Louis, led a Socratic Dialogue — a discussion that allows all students to participate — about the social and science issues related to pandemic flu. They also advised their peers on how to best hold a Socratic Dialogue in classrooms back home.

“When you start with a controversial topic — like Hurricane Katrina — it gets students motivated to start conversation,” Matiase says. “And then you go back to the text to generate questions. Now that my high school students know how to do this, I am more of an observer.”

Beginning the conversation 

Farrar opened the pandemic flu dialogue with a social justice question: “How do we ensure disenfranchised groups have the same access to resources as privileged groups during a pandemic flu outbreak?”

The hands-on learning experience gave teachers a new way to integrate science with real-world issues.

“We wanted teachers to use the weeklong institute as an opportunity to test and give feedback on the labs, activities and science involved in the Mapping Health module,” Siegel says. “The module is only a preliminary version, that our project team developed in conjunction with select teacher leaders, but we’ll have all the teachers put it into practice in different settings and improve upon it over the upcoming year.”

The Mapping Health module is part of the Maps in Medicine grant, which is funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The five-year Maps in Medicine project aims to increase student interest in and understanding of basic biology and human health. It is a collaborative effort between MU, the Missouri Botanical Garden and high school teachers in Columbia Public Schools, Normandy School District and Parkway School District.