Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this grant was under-represented high school students in Metro Nashville Public Schools. These were students in majority-minority, high-poverty comprehensive high schools with an interest in increasing their knowledge and skills in the field of biosciences beyond the basic skills and equipment available in their normal curriculum. In addition to targeting students, this lab has also built capacity by funding lab equipment for teachers and providing hands-on lab skills training for science teachers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In July 2021, both high school teachers engaged their respective science departments in several days of hands-on training on the tools and techniques of the biotechnology lab. From August 2021 until the end of the school year, those teachers provided support and equipment so that these teachers could implement some of these relevant lab activities within their own classes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated using School News-Letters, teaching materials in high school classes, andwebsite. Participantsmade several presentations at professional conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
From 8/2021-8/2022, the teacher and student training portions of the project were completed. During this period, the high school teachers continued to utilize the lab resources and lesson plans produced by the project to deliver high-quality instruction in biosciences within their existing curricula and to support and engage other science teachers within their schools. In addition, the online college biotechnology course was completed and piloted with success at Tennessee State University.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Online class: An online introductory university-level biotechnology class was created in conjunction with the company CogBooks using their self-paced, self-remediating model of content delivery. This course was piloted at Tennessee State University in the fall of 2021. https://www.cogbooks.com/biotechnology/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Lesson Plans: A sequence of lesson plans and lab activities was developed designed for ten two-hour after-school lab sessions with groups of 10-25 students. These plans are modifiable to fit within a typical high school science block.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Engaging Local Underrepresented Youth through a High School Agriculture Bioscience Certificate (HSABC) Program. P . Thapa*, H. Li, H. F. Chen, S. Nahashon, J. Ricketts, S.Zhou. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture. 2022 Association of 1890 Research Directors Research Symposium, Atlanta Marriott Marquis April 2 5, 2022
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Two workshops were conducted to train metro school teachers in Nashville, TN. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The two lead high school teachers were prepared to lead the Biotech Program at Metro Schools. They conducted the teacher training workshops in summer, 2021. Eight high school teachers were trained during the workshops. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For the 2020-2021 school year (August - May), the team planned on continuing the after school biotechnology lab program when students returned to school from quarantine. However, our district remained virtual through mid-March 2021, at which point about 60% of our students returned, while 40% remained virtual through the remainder of the school year. We discussed the possibility of continuing the labs outdoors or virtually, but ended up deciding to wait until the students returned in person so that they could reap the hands-on benefits of the experience. In addition, it would have been very difficult if not impossible to recruit for a virtual experience, and the laptop and hotspot rollout for the district was predictably slow and tedious. Our administration would not allow an outdoor after-school option. Thus, we had no after school lab activities for the students in the 2020-2021 school year. In the summer of 2021, we had hoped to host a week-long research session at TSU similar to the summer of 2019, but once again COVID protocols would not allow this to happen. The team discussed putting on some sort of teacher workshop to extend the training and offer use of the lab materials within our school buildings. In July, we hosted two three-day workshops with the science departments at our respective schools for six hours per day in which we went through the after school labs, made connections to existing standards, and provided access and ideas for utilizing these tools and biotechnology techniques within their classes. Atotal of8science teachers participated from Glencliff High School and Hunters Lane High School.In addition, these workshops have trained the other teachers in the same building where the workshops were conductedand granted them access to these materials for their own students. The workshop materials were usedin teaching senior plant biotechnology class in the participating high shools. . Thematerials and concepts developed in the class were also used to build the biotechnology course for Cogbooks which are included in teaching Introductionto Biotech courseat TSU. The high school AgScience/biotechlabs arenow fully-equipped with high-quality micropipettes, gel rigs, PCR machines, incubators, and microcentrifuges. This will allow the science teachersto continue to teach authentic, high-level labs and provide real-world explorations for the students.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:This grant has engaged and inspired students, built capacity with science teachers at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS), Nashville, Tennessee. During this reporting period, three cohorts with 41 MNPS students have taken the Biotechnology classes offered on the MNPS campuses. The MNPS teachers have indicated that they have grown in knowledge and understanding of the field, and been able to share this knowledge through hands-on interaction with students as well as other professionals. Students have had the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in a field and with tools previously unavailable in an urban, high-poverty school. In addition, they have had meaningful, small group interactions with real-life scientists, toured and worked in university lab facilities, and begun to envision themselves pursuing higher education in this dynamic field. Faculty, post-doctoral research associates, graduate and undergraduate students at Tennessee State University have also gained tremendous experiences in community service by interacting with MNPS teachers and students. Changes/Problems: What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. Ms.Hannah Homoelle, thescience teacher at Hunters Lane, were trained and refreshed her skills related to the lab protocol and prepared her order of lab supplies to run her own cohort at Hunters Lane in the spring of 2020; 2. Two TSU undergraduate students gained experience learning in conducting Biotech labs; 3. One TSU post-doc gained experiences in working with MNPS teachers and students and community services; How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project activities have been included in Glencliff Biotechnology News which are distributed online across MNPS and to the public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have been discussing with MNPS teachers to develop hybrid module for the Biotech certificate program.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the summer of 2019 a new veteran MNPS science teacher, Hannah Homoelle, joined our team. In the fall of 2019, the second cohort of Biotech I were recruited which included sixteen Glencliff students and four Hunters Lane High School students. These students completed the labs as a combined group in the fall of 2019. All of these students received the certificates. In the spring of 2020, the third Glencliff cohort, selecting a maximum-capacity 20 students was recruited. Our final lab was on March 10th, the last day of school before covid-19 ended all traditional school instruction in Tennessee for the school year. Students completed the class have recieved the certificates. Ms. Homoelle, after waiting for materials ordered, had selected 20 students for a Hunters Lane cohort, and planned to start her labs in mid-March. Unfortunately, this was not able to happen due to the pandemic-related lockdown. Our planned Phase II cohort on TSU's campus for summer 2020 also had to be cancelled.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:During the project period, the target audiences include teachers of agricultural sciences in Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and students at 11-12 grades who are preparing to apply for college. Graduate and undergraduate students at Tennessee State University (TSU) have been recruited to conduct classses and workshops for the high school students. Adminastrators at participating MNPS high schools and TSU were invited to attend student's presentations. The project team has also reached out to the public communities by presenting this project activities at local and national meetings. The post-doc, Dr. Hui LI and the high school teacher Hank Cardwell presented the project at Tennessee Association of Agricultural Educators (TAAE) 5th Annual Conference,2019. About50 high school teacher attened the session. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided training for post-doctoral associates to learn the skills to communicate with the K-12 communties. One post-doc was charged with most of the project activties. High school teachers from MNPS have been trained in many of the laboratory techniques by working side by side with faculty and students of the Biotechnology program at TSU. These teachers havebrought many more students for short tour oflabs and the greenhouses on TSU campus to incubate their interest in agriculture. Project team members and post-doc have attended community conferences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project team members have presented the Biotech Class Modules Tennessee Association of Agricultrual Educators (TAAE) 5th Conference, July 15th, 2019. Two sessions were conducted with up to 60 high school teachers participants per session. After the meeting, we have received a number of requests to participate in the projects. Several high school teachers expressed wishes to be included in the next grant. The high school principals and their assistants, the Dean of College of Agriculture at TSU, and other adminastrators, faculty, post-docs and students at TSU have all been invited to the high school student's presentations on TSU campus. They were all high impressed with the project activities. Students were encougated to invite their families, friends, and peers to attend their presentations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. Continue the high school Biotech classes; 2. Train more graduate and undergraduate students to participate in the project; 3. Recruit new high schools to grow the project with the support of grants, or other financial resources.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The following threemajor goals have been achieved during the project period: 1. Two high school teachers have been trained using all the modules of Biotechnology as proposed in the grant. 2. The first class of Biotech I was offered in Spring, 2019 on Glenncliff High School. 12 students were recruited and all completed the sesssion. 10 students completed the Biotech II in summer, 2019 on TSU campus. These students have received the certificates for their completion of the program. Post-class survey was conducted which showed significant improvement with the student confidence in conducting hands-on research projects, and pursuing college education, after taking the Biotechnogy classes; 3. TSU graduate and undergraduate students have been recruited to improve their skills in out-reach. Five Ph.D students have conducted sessions either on high school campus or at TSU. Several M.S, and undergraduate students are receiving training to prepare for the project activities.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Hank Cardwell. Glencliff Biotechnology News first quarter 2019-2020.
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