STEM and Health: Science Kits Integrating STEM Concepts with Human Health

ABSTRACT Solving human health problems often involves technologies developed through the collaborative work of scientistsengineersand mathematiciansDespite the fact that STEMsciencetechnologyengineeringand mathematicscollaboration is a crucial aspect of medical research and healthcare careersmany students are still learning scienceengineeringand math as isolated disciplinesIn additionmany teachers have limited time and resources for designing and preparing hands on STEM activitiesThe overall goal for this Phase II SBIR project is to developevaluateand disseminate hands on Science Take Out STEM and Health kits that illustrate how integration of STEM disciplines is important for solving human health problemsThis project will expand on our Phase I SBIR project in which we developed three middle school level STEM and Health kitsDuring this Phase II SBIR project we will meet the following objectivesDevelop and evaluate three high school level STEM and Health kitsDevelop and use reliable and valid pre post assessments for each of the six Science Take Out STEMand Health kitsthree middle school kits and three high school kitsto determine the impact that thekits have on student learningDevelop and evaluate workshop materials that will be used byteacher presentersto lead STEM andHealth workshops for their peers This proposed project is significant because it will build the capacity of secondary school teachers to use hands on activities that integrate STEM concepts with real life topics related to human health problems and solutionsThis project will significantly increase teachersandaposuse of integrated STEM activities by providing them with content richhands on activities packaged in ready to use kitsThe convenience of inexpensivepreassembled Science Take Out kits will allow efficient and economical access to materials for hands on integrated STEM activitiesThis project will also allow us to explore strategies needed to overcome the barriers that teachers face when adopting and incorporating integrated STEM activities into their curriculumsThis proposed project is innovative because the STEM and Health kits use real life scenarios and hands on activities to integrate STEM content and practices with health science educationIn additionthe innovative characteristics of Science Take Out kits increase the likelihood of adoption of these new educational materials by busy teachersThis project will also support peer led professional development workshopsled by teachers for their colleaguesin order to further increase teachersandaposcapacity to integrate health science and STEM RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH The relevance of this project to public health is that the Science Take Out STEM and Health kits will provide secondary school teachers with access to hands on lessons and lab activities which will help their students to master scientific subject matter and develop their scientific reasoning skillsThis project will have a positive impact on teachersandaposabilities to use hands on activities that integrate STEMsciencetechnologyengineeringand mathematicsconcepts into real life topics related to human health problems and solutionsThe Science Take Out kits to be developed in this project will increase studentsandaposunderstanding of STEM concepts and they will also become better informed on decisions involving their health