Outreach: Developing Educational Resources

Background

Careers in science outreach often involve the translation of information and the provision of educational resources. These resources can be provided to other educators or take the form of a presentation delivered by the individual who developed the content. The individual responsible for such content is often affiliated with a partnership between a local K-12 school and an academic institution, a nonprofit organization, or a society invested in education and outreach. Generally this simulation is applicable to any outreach position that involves communication with a lay audience, including public school systems or the general public.

The Process

The process for the support of educators through the provision and/or development of a resource may differ when comparing different outreach entities. In this simulation, you will be exploring most of Step 3 in the process presented below:

1. A Program Director contacts local schools to find opportunities to provide educational resources and initiate partnerships.
2. The Program Director, administrators and/or teachers identify common goals/objectives and assign roles.
3. The Academic coordinator and partner teacher:
   1. Identify content and activities in concordance with step 2.
   2. Determine what type of resources are required for step 2.
   3. Determine who will use the resource and for how long.
   4. If the resource is a lesson:
      1. Determine the audience
      2. Write learning objectives and a lesson plan.
      3. Develop learning materials.
      4. Deliver the lesson.
      5. Evaluate how well the learning objectives were met.
      6. Revise the lesson as needed.

The Exercise

For this exercise you are are an Academic Coordinator for the Science Education Partnership at a university. One of your roles in this position is to help develop lessons that will improve the current biotechnology elective curriculum at a local high school. Design and implement a new high school biology lesson which must meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

The teachers are concerned with the preparation of students for college, but they also want the students to be aware of relevant topics in biotech. You all have agreed that two of the lessons will be on the human microbiome and genome editing. However, your partner teacher is uncomfortable with some of the material and would like your help developing the lessons.

The class contains high school juniors and seniors. All of the students have taken biology and chemistry, both of which are prerequisites for the elective. Some of the students have also taken AP Biology and Physics. Generally your audience may be more motivated to learn than what you might encounter in other settings. However, each student comes with a different level of preparedness and you should still plan to include and/or be ready to adapt or scaffold the material so it is appropriate for your audience.

Note: Outside of this simulation, a professional in science outreach would be writing and discussing these objectives with their partner teacher. The task of aligning your learning objectives with NGSS is intended to model part of this interaction. High school elective courses usually do not need to follow NGSS.

• Students will be able to describe and model the process of genome editing.
• Students will be able to articulate via presentation to their peers how the study of the human microbiome impacts society.

You may have noticed that the sample lesson plan does not contain a lecture. Furthermore, several terms are bolded (Clickers, TPS and Strip sequence) and are commonly used in teaching methodology that is meant to engage students. The NGSS standards are enhancing scientific teaching nationally and, generally, these standards are encouraging K-12 educators to move towards active learning. Therefore, individuals in science outreach that operate in the K-12 space are expected to embrace and facilitate lessons that involve the active participation of students during class.

To learn more about active learning, see the resources below:

Ch2: Active Learning from “Scientific Teaching” by Jo Handelsman, Sarah Miller and Christine Pfund and 40 Active Learning Strategies for Active Students from Monster.com.

The Deliverable

Create the lesson plan as an excel sheet or in a word processor containing the following:

• Title of the lesson plan
• Short 2-3 sentence description of the lesson
• List of learning objectives from Task 1
• A table outlining the lesson as in Task 2
• Method of assessment if doing Task 3

Use PowerPoint, drawing software, and/or any other audiovisual programs to create the materials to be used for the lesson. Remember that the materials you, the Academic Coordinator, produce could be provided to the teacher to use at a later date.

Resources

• Next Generation Science Standards
• An introduction to CRISPR-Cas, a video from iBiology
• Topics to consider when teaching about CRISPR-Cas: “Tinkering With Nature: Weighing the Benefits and Risks of Genetically Engineering Animals” by Michael Gonchar
• A Nature article, “Biotechnology: At the heart of gene edits in human embryos“
• Lesson plans and ideas for presentation and activities:
  • Teach the Microbiome, site for teachers
  • Bringing the microbiome to the classroom, a collection of lessons from the American Society of Microbiology

Skills

For this task:

• Scientific knowledge
• The ability to simplify and/or translate complex concepts
• Communication skills, verbal and written
• Computer skills
• Analytical skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Attention to detail
• Creativity

Needed in this career:

• The ability to simplify and/or translate complex concepts
• Analytical and computer skills
• Knowledge of science, education and outreach
• Communication skills, verbal and written
• Time and program management
• Interpersonal skills: teamwork/collaboration
• Attention to detail
• Creativity

Additional Tasks

A professional in the field of regulatory affairs may also perform these tasks:

• Event planning
• Evaluate project or program progress and/or outcomes
• Develop program evaluation methods
• Train fellow educators
• Search and apply for relevant funding sources
• Marketing
• Establish and manage relationships with volunteers and vendors
• Budget management
• Write and speak to diverse audiences