Science Take-Out Kits for Environmental Health Education

ABSTRACT Nearlypercent of death and diseaseworldwideis linked to environmental factorsWHOthereforeit is critical that the general public has a basic understanding of how the environment affects their health and how they might protect themselves against environmental exposuresUnfortunatelyenvironmental health is typically covered minimallyif at allin secondary school classroomsMartinaand there are few currently available hands on activities that engage the general public in learning about important concepts related to environmental healthThis proposed Phase II STTR project will involve a partnership betweenScience Take Outa small business that creates and manufactureslab in a bagscience kitsThe Community Outreach and Engagement Core of University of Rochesterandapos s Environmental HealthSciences Centerin collaboration with community outreach professionals from the University of NorthCarolinathe University of Texas Medical Branchand West Harlem Environmental ActionThis collaborative project will expand on our successful STTR Phase I project in which we developed and pilot tested eight hands on Science Take Out kits on topics in environmental health scienceEHSthat can easily be introduced into science teachersandaposexisting curriculaThese EHS kits combine thelab in a bagfeatures common to all Science Take Out kits with activities that engage students in learning important concepts in EHS such aseffects of environmental agents on body systems and biological processeschanges in susceptibility to environmental agents at different life stagesandprevention of environmental exposuresIn this Phase II STTR project we plan toDevelop valid reliable pre post tests for each EHS kitWe will then use the pre post tests to determinethe impact of the kits on high school studentsandaposunderstanding of EHS conceptsModify the EHS kits to createCommunity EHSkits for use in community outreach settingsDevelop and evaluate workshop materials that will be used bypeer presentersto increase teacherand community outreach capacity for using hands on EHS educational materialsThis project is significant because it will build the capacity of teachers and community educators to use handson activities to increase the environmental health literacy of students and diverse informal learnersThis proposed project is innovative becauseThe Science Take Out kit activities use science process skills to increase learnersandaposunderstanding of EHS conceptsThe fully assembled kits make hand on EHS activities easyeconomical and convenient for educators to implementandWe will specifically tailor ourCommunity EHSkits to make them appropriate for use by community outreach groupsthus increasing the capacity to engage the general public in hands on EHS learning RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH The relevance of this project to public health is that the Science Take Out kits developed and used in this project will provide teachers and community outreach professionals with access to hands onengaging environmental health science activitiesThese activities will help students and the general public to understand important concepts in environmental health scienceThe Science Take Out kits will also help studentsandaposmaster scientific subject matter and develop their scientific reasoning skills by applying scientific practices to solve real world challengesIndividuals who use the Science Take Out environmental health science kits will become better informed on decisions involving their health