NSF Award
8650081
This Leadership Activities Project will provide professional development for 120 outstanding junior and senior high school science teachers. The teachers will learn concepts and laboratory methods associated with contemporary research at the frontiers of biology, and they will prepare appropriate lesson plans and laboratory activities for secondary school students. The biologists making the presentations have been chosen on the basis of research skills and award-winning teaching. A feature of the program will be a keynote address and visit with Nobel Laureate Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA. The program staff also includes science educators from the local school district and from higher education. This project will address topics at the frontiers of nutrition, marine biology, genetic engineering and recombinant DNA technology, human ecology, cancer biology, electron microscopy, cell biology, developmental biology, and computer applications in biological research. The laboratory program will stress methods and materials in modern cell biology. Products of the project will include a book, video tapes, and laboratory activities that are both relevant and appropriate for secondary school students. It is anticipated that these products will be sponsored in part by local corporations or organizations. Another anticipated project outcome will be the initiation of courses or extracurricular activities in selected secondary schools that stimulate and support students conducting independent research projects.
