Progress 07/01/07 to 06/30/10
Outputs
During the three years of the UBET Grant, eight partner high school teachers completed 1,495 hours of faculty development that included undergraduate and graduate level bioscience courses, bioscience workshops and conferences, USDA/ARS and ASU Biodesign Institute internships, and science fairs. The UBET goal for student enrollment in bioscience classes was 400 and 30% minority, but actual enrollment was 743 and nearly 47% were under-represented minority students, 34% Hispanic. The UBET goal for science fair participation was 40, but the actual number was 68 and 36 won awards, 41% were under-represented minority students. Another UBET goal was for 75 students to complete two or more bioscience classes, but over 230 students completed two bioscience courses and 164 completed three or more. The UBET goal was for 200 students to indicate university transfer following high school graduation; but we found that 230 UBET graduates are currently enrolled at a university; 354 others are enrolled at a community college. Another UBET goal was for 15 students to complete bioscience internships, the actual number was four. Twelve students attending other high schools funded by a USDA/NIFA HSI Higher Education Grant completed internships and two students completed two internships. The goal for student course completion was 85%, but the actual completion rate was 93%. Finally, a UBET goal was to spread bioscience dual enrollment to at least two additional high schools; the actual expansion was to fifteen high schools in six school districts in two Arizona counties. PRODUCTS: The curriculum for nine college bioscience courses (including formative and summative evaluations) was developed and administered the partner UBET high schools. All of the UBET bioscience courses transfer to the Arizona public universities. Cox Cable and Maricopa Community College Television filmed UBET bioscience classes and aired them on television. Custom recruitment brochures and Power point presentations were produced and delivered in UBET classes. A bioscience web page was created on the SMCC homepage as well as a Face book page for teachers and students. OUTCOMES: Two teachers in UBET schools completed their Master's degree and became college certified to teach bioscience courses. UBET partnered with Mesa Community College (MCC) and their NSF ATE Grant that provided biotechnology teacher development workshops and a mobile biotechnology lab. As a result, UBET teachers participated in the MCC workshops and borrowed biotech mobile lab equipment as their bioscience programs grew. SMCC received two other grants because of UBET; $50,000 from the Arizona Community Foundation for student scholarships and faculty development and $290.000 from USDA/NIFA HSI Higher Education Grant. UBET students also received $15,000 from SMCC for dual enrollment scholarships. Carl Hayden Community High School, a UBET partner received nearly $120,000 from the Arthur M. Blank Foundation to pay for UBET student tuition. Over 500 UBET students received scholarships during the three year grant period. UBET also developed a strong relationship with USDA ARS in Maricopa. ARS accepted two teachers and four student interns and ARS scientists provided guided tours for numerous bioscience class field trips and mentored students too. UBET was timely because it emerged on the Arizona horizon when the Arizona Legislature passed a mandate for a third year of science. As a result, biotechnology has become the science course of choice in four school districts, fifteen high schools, and hundreds of students. Nearly 79% of UBET students graduated high school and enrolled in college or university, more than triple the rate of Arizona high school students that graduate high school and attend college. Over 93% of eligible UBET students graduated high school far exceeding the 68.2% graduation rate reported for Arizona in 2007. UBET partnered with a very successful Arizona Program, Achieving a College Education (ACE) to improve Arizona high school graduation rate, college enrollments, and increase the number of students who pursue agriculture related careers. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: SMCC created a Bioscience website on the South Mountain Community College home page during the fist year of the grant. We created a Face book page last year for students and teachers. UBET presented at the NSF funded BIO Link Center in Berkeley California two years, at NACTA this year, at NASTA in Phoenix in 2009 and at Arizona NASTA in Mesa in 2008. UBET was highlighted in two videos that air on television; the first by Cox Cable Networks that videotaped UBET students in a Introduction to Biotechnology class and a second by Maricopa Community College Television that videotaped UBET students in a Human Genetics class at the second UBET high school. Both video tapes aired multiple times. UBET personnel were judges at Arizona Science and Engineering fairs, and Intel ISEF; sharing the merits of UBET with colleagues, guests, and visitors. UBET activities are disseminated on partner high school websites and on recruitment brochures that are customized for partner high schools. FUTURE INITIATIVES: SMCC will submit a new proposal next year for preparing students for USDA careers by constructing a Bioscience and Engineering Academy at a partner high school in an urban school district. The goal of the academy will be to construct a college satellite located on a high school campus that will enable high school students to earn a college certificate in biosciences or engineering by the time they graduate high school and to earn an Associates degree within one year of high school graduation.
Impacts
UBET addressed a regional problem; Arizona adopted a plan to build a bioscience industry, but they did not have a plan to educate a workforce or inform citizens about bio industry benefits to build community support. UBET mapped high school and college bioscience curricula with UBET schools that subsequently were adopted by Arizona Department of Education. This produced a coordinated high school/college curricula to train a bio industry workforce. UBET publicized bio industry benefits and illustrated bio industry training in high school classrooms via television broadcasts, newspaper articles, advisory board meetings, Maricopa County and Phoenix Workforce Development Programs, and science fairs. UBET reached out to high schools and into communities and the communities responded. Arizona Community Foundation awarded $50,000 for UBET faculty development and student scholarships. Thirteen high schools sent requests to join UBET; which culminated in a new USDA/NIFA proposal and $290,000 for eUBET. Mesa College and ASU shared NSF ATE Grant resources with UBET. Arthur M. Blank Foundation paid UBET student tuition and fees for over 300 students (~$220,000) in one UBET school. Biotech courses were taught in five Maricopa high schools before UBET; only two for college credit. Over twenty high schools teach biotechnology courses in Maricopa County today; all for college credit. Arizona is not in the same place it was before UBET. Its bio industry is steadily growing; its bio industry workforce training is flourishing and its community is involved and supportive of biosciences.
Publications
- BIO 213 A short course in Bioethics, by Dr. Peter Delanoy, 2007.
- BIO 107 Introduction to Biotechnology: Research Methods with an Inquiry Approach, 2009.
- BIO 247 Biosciences: Applied Biotechnology, by Dr. Michael Brown, 2007
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Progress 07/01/08 to 06/30/09
Outputs
UBET Year 2 performance based objectives were: To offer bioscience teacher professional growth; To teach two levels of college bioscience courses at each high school; To enter 40 students in local, regional, or national science fairs; To have 150 students enroll in a bioscience courses (40% minority); To attain an 85% success rate (receive a C or higher); To identify new partner high schools; To provide curricula, supplies, and teacher support for bioscience courses taught at high schools and internships; To evaluate UBET Report Card Professional growth was 216 hours. One UBET teacher completed a Master's degree and became lead biotech teacher. Two new biotech teachers were hired at another UBET high school to support their growing program. All teachers attended at least one biotech workshop, and advisory board meeting. 100 and 200 level bioscience courses were taught at all UBET high schools. Two high schools completed a yr-3 objective by teaching a 3rd level course. 28 students competed in the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair. 16 won awards and 4 competed in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, ISEF in Reno. 1 student was awarded 3rd place at ISEF. 64 students from new UBET schools competed in local science fairs. 159 students enrolled in at least one college-level bioscience course last year (143 enrolled in a second course too); 106 were minority (67%), 55% were Hispanic. 143 students successfully completed one or more bioscience courses (90%). Three new HS partners were added during yr-2: McClintock HS, Mountain View HS and Red Mountain HS. A new biotech lab manual (BIO 107) was authored in 2009 to complement the text book and align with high school schedules. The manual meets or exceeds Arizona public College and University learning objectives. It will be used (and evaluated) by UBET teachers in 2009. UBET delivered perishable lab supplies and classroom lab support to all UBET partners. In addition, USDS ARS in Maricopa provided an internship opportunity for a UBET teacher and a UBET student. A second UBET student received an internship with Translational Genomics Research Institute (T-GEN) in Phoenix last summer. UBET teacher evaluations revealed that all UBET teachers taught at college level, used appropriate bioscience learning activities, and engaged students in active learning. UBET lab techs received superior marks for job performance on their employee evaluation and from student/faculty surveys. UBET evaluations were performed by an external evaluator. Data was collected from UBET teachers, administrators, and students using surveys. Identified strength areas included: lab equipment, supplies, and lab tech support. Identified weaknesses (by some partners) included: recruitment, curriculum, and social networking. In response to these concerns; UBET produced custom flyers for schools and scheduled in-class presentations for all UBET classes for August. The new lab manual will be used and evaluated by UBET teachers this year in order to address teacher curriculum concerns. We created a Face book page for students and teachers to better communicate and support social networking demands. PRODUCTS: A new BIO 107 Introduction to Biotechnology lab book was authored by Xan Simmonson, Mesa Biotechnology Director and UBET teacher. The lab book meets or exceeds Arizona community college and university competencies and it is tailored for high school classroom schedules. UBET teachers will use and evaluate the new lab book next year. An external evaluator was hired to create and administer evaluation materials that measure UBET effectiveness. The formative evaluations for students and survey instruments for UBET teachers, administrators, and students provided valuable information for UBET Co-PD's and the UBET advisory board that resulted in new focus points for next year. The evaluator and Co-PD's will make minor revisions to the instruments next year to improve the quality of evaluation data. UBET faculty and Co-PD's produced and administered a new summative evaluation for BIO 107 in order to measure student conceptual knowledge and skill acquisition against college learning objectives. The summative evaluation allows for within and between school comparisons for the BIO 107 course. 149 students completed the summative evaluation and the mean score was 87%. The evaluation was administered in three high schools and one college last year, but we will increase the spread to ten high schools and two colleges next year. UBET lab technicians and high school faculty produce their own plasmids for bacterial transformation labs. They also produce many reagents for commercially sold pre-packaged labs thereby reducing UBET lab supply costs. Two new college courses were created last year BIO 175, Research Methods in Biology and BIO 173 Basic Lab Methods and Lab Math. Both courses transfer to Arizona universities. UBET high schools will teach five sections of BIO 175 next year so biotech students can complete science fair research projects and receive college/university credit. Two sections of BIO 173 will be taught in UBET schools next fall. Customized UBET brochures and power point presentations were created for each UBET school at the end of last year. They will be used to boost enrollment for next year. UBET Co-PD and lab technicians facilitated science fairs at two high schools last year. 64 students entered the competitions. Maricopa Community College Television filmed a UBET genetics class at Carl Hayden Community High School (an original UBET high school) and aired the promotional piece on television. The video was shot in a UBET classroom while students were doing a genetics biotech lab. The complete video can be found on the SMCC Bioscience web page: http://biosci.southmountaincc.edu/. OUTCOMES: UBET added three new partner high schools and has inquiries from two others. Two of the new high schools are in Mesa Public School District, joining Mesa Biotechnology Academy and Mesa HS. McClintock HS, the third new UBET high school joins four of its sister UBET schools from Tempe Union High School District. Teresa Clark, Hamilton HS and UBET teacher was 2008 Arizona science teacher of the year first runner up. UBET adds a new university partner. Dr. David Rhoads, University of Arizona plant geneticist and Co-PD in a NSF ATE Grant that promotes undergraduate biotech research in Arizona high schools, wrote a second ATE proposal that will expand their project and include SMCC and UBET. Dr. Rhoads and UBET have leveraged resources during the past year which has enabled UBET teachers to train and teach Dr. Rhoads soil bacteria genomics labs to UBET students which are reported in the NSF ATE Grant. Award notification is expected in November. UBET year 1 results were presented to the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) in January 2009 to justify a budget revision request to allocated $40,000 from the grant for UBET student scholarships. The budget request was approved resulting in 107 students (low income, first generation, and minority) receiving tuition scholarships for their UBET courses. Ninety-three percent of ACF scholars successfully completed the college bioscience course. South Mountain Community College allocated $15,000 for dual enrollment scholarships next year with special emphasis being placed on students taking science, mathematics, engineering, or technology courses. UBET students meeting financial need eligibility criteria will get extra qualifying points. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: UBET had three dissemination activities last year. A USDA/ UBET Grant link was placed on the SMCC bioscience website and the following items were posted: UBET advisory meeting presentations, Annual reports to USDA, comprehensive evaluations annual reports, and links to the UBET schools. Teacher and student links were new to the bioscience webpage this year plus a face book page was added for students. The teacher link provides curricula, upcoming workshops, applications for professional growth, and field trip expense forms. The student link has dual enrollment forms, scholarship forms, links to student research projects, and a link to USDA/CSREES for those interested I n pursuing agricultural-related careers. UBET co-sponsored high school science fairs last year and had our lab techs provide UBET brochures and answer questions from students, parents and teachers. The UBET Co-PD brought Antonio Garcia, UBET Lab tech, past UBET student and current Wood Scholar in the school of sustainability at Arizona State University to the National Bio Link Fellows Forum in Berkeley, California. Antonio delivered a presentation to Bio Link Fellows titled: How Dual Enrollment changed my Life and brought hope and pride to my family. UBET was a central theme in Antonio's presentation. The MCTV video shot in a UBET classroom of students doing a genetics biotech lab was another dissemination activity. The video aired during June 2009 and can be seen at: http://biosci.southmountaincc.edu FUTURE INITIATIVES: UBET will continue to strengthen its partnership with the three high school districts, universities, and ARS in Maricopa. UBET will offer training, supplies, and dual enrollment opportunities to new UBET teachers and high school partners. UBET will co-sponsor teacher professional development days in Tempe High School District and Mesa Public Schools to increase the number of UBET teachers using biotech activities and promote biotech program expansion. UBET will facilitate classroom field trips to USDA ARS in Maricopa this year to encourage more teachers to promote science fair projects and USDA careers. Teacher and administration field trips will be coordinated by UBET this year to bring greater awareness of extraordinary ARS resources to K-12 personnel. The field trips will also be used to encourage more applications for teacher and student internships at ARS. UBET will continue to work with Dr. Rhoads and expand his educational bioscience research into more UBET classrooms. We may be even more involved with Dr. Rhoads research efforts if his NSF ATE proposal is funded in November. UBET will refocus on student enrollment this year by having the UBET lab techs make in-class presentations that promote attaining a college degree, beginning with dual enrollment, and considering an agricultural career pathway. The presentations will occur in early fall, followed by one-on-one student/UBET registration and scholarship application completion (on face book). The goal of the new recruitment strategy is to remove the burden and miscommunications from teachers and interact directly with UBET customers (students) in a format they readily use.
Impacts
In June 2009, Xan Simmonson, took her UBET biotech class to China in an educational exchange. The class visited two high schools and led hands-on inquiry biotech labs with their Chinese hosts. Chinese teachers and students were surprised to learn that American students select their own research topic, make their own procedures, and present their own results in public. As a result of this trip, a Chinese calss plans to visit Xan's class in spring 2010. Xan is planning a second educational exchange with Ireland next summer. UBET was a cosponsor of last years Arizona Science Teachers Association (ASTA) annual conference. UBET Co-PD's delivered a presentation on the UBET grant, dual enrollment, and encouraging students to pursue agricultural careers. Continued networking with ASTA has resulted in the community colleges (particularly SMCC) and high school teachers making great strides in aligning high school and college curricula. UBET has contributed to the successful mapping of high school biotech courses to college biotech course competencies and learning objectives in Arizona's three largest school districts. We also play an active role in Arizona Department of Education's process of establishing uniform high school bioscience course standards, assessments, and outcomes. In the end, UBET will have helped achieve one of our broadest goals; to establish high quality bioscience courses in Arizona that have consistency throughout the state and prepare students for college and university bioscience programs.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 07/01/07 to 06/30/08
Outputs
UBET performance-based objectives were to: 1). equip three inner urban high schools with bioscience equipment by fall 2007; 2). advance UBET high school faculty bioscience skills and knowledge through enrollment in SMCC bioscience courses; 3). offer at least one dual enrollment college-level bioscience course at each of the three UBET high schools; 4). hire a coordinator of science labs to assist in the UBET high school bioscience courses; 5). have at least 40 UBET students participate in science fairs and at least 10 participate in regional or national competitions (with at least 30% of the students being under-represented minorities; 6). have at least 75 students (at least 30% minority) successfully complete at least one college-level bioscience course and; 7). Have at least 85% of the students enrolled in UBET biosciences pass with a grade of C or better. The UBET report card is as follows: 1). The three UBET high schools were fully equipped with bioscience instruments by October 1st, 2007; 2). All UBET high school faculty successfully completed the SMCC biotechnology course, Introduction to Biotechnology (BIO 107) during summer 2007, six UBET faculty completed a Scientific Reasoning Academy at SMCC during summer 2008, three UBET faculty completed a biotechnology workshop at Mesa College in June 2008, one UBET faculty completed a six week biotechnology internships at the Arizona State University Bio-Design Institute in July 2008 one UBET faculty worked with The Arizona Fish and Game to capture wildlife in northern Arizona with the aid of genetic markers; 3). Eight sections of two bioscience courses were offered at two UBET high schools and one section each of four bioscience courses were offered at a third UBET high school; 4). A coordinator of science labs was hired and trained by November 2007; in plenty of time to prepare for spring 2008 UBET dual enrollment bioscience courses. The UBET Coordinator of Science Labs received outstanding evaluations from the high school faculty and students, UBET Co-PD, and MSE Chair. Particularly noted was her strength in mentoring faculty and students in the bioscience classes; 5). 32 students participated in science fairs the first year, 12 participated in the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair and 4 went to the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta; 6). 506 students successfully completed bioscience courses supported by UBET (430 more than projected). 7). The success rate of UBET supported students in bioscience classes was 95% (start point is the 45th day roster and end point is the final grade roster). PRODUCTS: Dr. Michael Brown (an AAEC UBET Faculty) authored a new introductory biotechnology lab manual that was customized for high school settings and schedules, yet meets all of the community college instructional objectives. Dr. Brown and AAEC colleagues will continue to use this manual next year and after the grant has ended. MSDS sheets for all bioscience supplies were given to each UBET high school. District risk assessment and safety policies were also supplied to high schools along with appropriate training (by the UBET Coordinator of Science Labs). Bioscience equipment was properly installed, maintained and calibrated (when needed) on a regular basis with periodic maintenance charts and training provided to high school faculty. Proper safety handling and disposal procedures were taught to all UBET students and faculty during the first week of bioscience classes. Formative and summative evaluations were created and distributed to all UBET students. Student comments resulted in UBET teachers and the coordinator of science labs -chunking- lab exercises into small pieces so -it was not so fast paced- at one school and increasing the -hands-on activities- in another. Overall, students were very satisfied with the UBET bioscience courses. The Coordinator of Science Labs received stellar evaluations from the high school faculty, students, the Math Science Engineering (MSE) chair, and the Co-PD. The SMCC MSE chair conducted in-class evaluations of UBET faculty and they all received very positive comments and positive reviews. A UBET brochure was created (English and Spanish versions) and distributed to all students in high school chemistry, general science, or biology classes in the fall to recruit for spring enrollment. We believe that the brochure coupled with good planning and hard working high school staff contributed to the outstanding first year UBET bioscience enrollment. A strong advisory committee was formed in Fall 2007 and an annual meeting occurred in November. The committee was comprised of two USDA/ARS scientists, an administrator and faculty from each UBET high school, and the UBET Co-PDs. The discussion that transpired during the first meeting elucidated hidden human capital resources that became critical during UBETs first year activities. SMCC created and delivered two college courses for UBET faculty. The first, Introduction to Biotechnology had a customized approach of teaching teachers how to teach students bioscience. UBET faculty completed this course in July 2008. A Methods of Inquiry course provided teachers hands-on instruction on how to use on-line interactive learning modules to promote scientific reasoning in high school students. The learning modules were developed by the UBET Co-PD and ASU Visualization Lab. All UBET faculty completed the Methods of Inquiry course. SMCC conducted two science fairs at the main campus (June 2007 and June 2008). More than 100 people attended the science fairs and thirty students presented posters of their bioscience projects. OUTCOMES: The following outcomes were produced during the first year of the UBET Project: 1). Four local high schools inquired about SMCC initiating bioscience programs in their schools; 2). Student interest soared in the bioscience courses resulting in a 220% increase in SMCC bioscience enrollment from 2006 to 2007 (from 230 to 506; 252 under-represented minority students and 306 females). The number of different course offerings increased from two to five and the number of sections of bioscience courses increased from eight to twenty-four; 3). Cox Television created a bioscience in high school segment at a UBET high school and interviewed UBET faculty, students, and the UBET Co-PD on camera. The bioscience piece aired during a high school football halftime and again on local Cox News; 4). The UBET project directors formed an informal partnership with bioscience faculty at Arizona State University (ASU) Polytech, Mesa Community College, Mesa Bioscience Academy (funded by an NSF CCLI and ATE grant in addition to a Arizona Science Foundation grant to expand the bioscience workforce through a 2+2+2 educational pipeline), and ASU Bio-Design institute to share our resources and expand our bioscience course offerings in Arizona. UBET faculty benefited from this partnership via invitations to the ASU Bio-Design Institute summer internship and the Mesa College bioscience workshop; UBET offers bioscience dual enrollment opportunities to high schools supported by the ASU/Mesa College grants. Both partners share bioscience supplies and leverage resources by combining our supply orders; 5). The UBET coordinator of science labs received a summer internship opportunity at the USDA/ARS Arid Land Research Laboratory in Maricopa during July 2008 and this pioneered future opportunities for UBET students and faculty next year; 6) Positive results from the UBET grant contributed to a new funding source (Arizona Community Foundation) which supported a project that will promote scientific reasoning in bioscience high school students ($50K, 2008); 7). UBET Project results and the commitments of three emerging bioscience high schools contributed to a new bioscience education project (eUBET) funded by the USDA/CSREES (proposal #2008-02111). DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: UBET had three dissemination activities it's first year. A bioscience website was created to disseminate information about the USDA/CSREES sponsored bioscience program at SMCC; this webpage attracted other high schools to SMCC Biosciences. UBET Students disseminated information about their UBET-sponsored projects and demonstrated their achievement at four science fairs involving 32 students this year. The UBET Co-PD presented at the annual BIO-LINK Forum in Berkeley California (June 2-5, 2008) with Xan Simonson (Mesa Bioscience Academy, Director), Stan Kickert (Mesa College Professor and Co-PD of an NSF ATE bioscience grant), and Steve Slater (ASU Polytech Research Scientist). Also, an expose' on SMCC biosciences was published in the SMCC Newsletter this year. FUTURE INITIATIVES: UBET Co-PDs will continue to exploit its new partnership with Mesa College, ASU Polytech, ASU Bio-Design Institute, and Mesa Bioscience Academy. We consummated a contract with Xan Simonson (Mesa Bioscience Academy Director and 2006 Arizona Science Teacher of the Year to craft an Introduction to Biotechnology Lab book especially designed to enable high school students (and teachers) to teach a college level Introductory Biotechnology course in a high school environment. The book will be complete (with teacher tips, lab prep materials and instructions) by December 2008. Authoring a second lab book, Biotechnology II, will be considered next year. Finally, the UBET Co-PD's are currently writing a proposal to NSF to fund student scholarships through the S-STEM program (submission date is August 10th, 2008) and consideration is being given to craft a USDA NRI Integrated Grant proposal (Due November 2008). The latter two grant proposals would include ASU Polytech, Mesa College, and ASU Bio-Design.
Impacts
Impacts of the UBET Project include the following: The informal partnership between UBET (South Mountain Community College, the three UBET partner high schools, and the USDA/ARS Lab in Maricopa) and Mesa College (~29,000 students), ASU Polytech and Bio-Design Institute, and Mesa Bioscience Academy has brought about a broader goal of bring consistency to biosciences in high school and a using a learning approach that emphasizes high school students doing real-time bioscience research and earning college credit. The partnership has identified numerous barriers to advancing bioscience education in high schools, but we have also identified and exploited the unique attributes of each partner to collectively overcome them. Finally, because of the partnership and the commitment of our administrators, faculty, and students; we were acknowledged as having an outstanding collaboration to promote bioscience education at the BIO-LINK National Forum this summer. It was exciting to hear others congratulate Arizona for our efforts in helping Arizona to become a Bioscience Hub and particularly for making extraordinary strides in advancing bioscience education for under-represented minorities and women.
Publications
- Kazem, N., 2008. Current research is being conducted by the UBET Coordinator of Science Labs with the U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center. Analysis and conclusions on the quality of reclaimed delivered water will lead to an independent research project in which identified microorganisms will be tested for pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance.
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