UNM Health Sciences Center, College of Education to Enrich NM Middle School Science Program

UNM’s Pre­ven­tion Research Cen­ter, the Depart­ment of Pedi­atrics, and researchers and edu­ca­tors from the UNM Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion have been awarded nearly $1.3 mil­lion over five years from the National Insti­tutes of Health’s (NIH) Sci­ence Edu­ca­tion Part­ner­ship Award (SEPA) to imple­ment a sci­ence enrich­ment pro­gram in five tribal and non-tribal (pre­dom­i­nantly His­panic) mid­dle schools in rural New Mexico.

Amer­i­can Indi­ans and His­pan­ics his­tor­i­cally have been under-represented in the sci­en­tific fields, and there is a steady decline in the num­ber of Amer­i­can Indian and His­panic stu­dents grad­u­at­ing with sci­ence and engi­neer­ing degrees. Fur­ther, chronic dis­eases like obe­sity, type 2 dia­betes, and can­cer are a major health con­cern for Amer­i­can Indi­ans and Hispanics.

“The lower rep­re­sen­ta­tion of Amer­i­can Indi­ans and His­pan­ics in the sci­ences cou­pled with higher bur­den of chronic dis­eases among these pop­u­la­tions poses a seri­ous national chal­lenge,” Shi­raz Mishra, pro­fes­sor of Pedi­atircs said. “Through the use of inno­v­a­tive tech­nolo­gies and edu­ca­tional strate­gies, we hope to fos­ter and nur­ture inter­est among mid­dle school stu­dents about careers in the sciences.”

SEPA was cre­ated to encour­age active bio­med­ical and/or behav­ioral sci­en­tists to work as part­ners with edu­ca­tors, media experts, com­mu­nity lead­ers, and other inter­ested orga­ni­za­tional lead­ers on projects that improve stu­dent under­stand­ing of the health sci­ences in K-12 edu­ca­tion, and increase the public’s under­stand­ing of science.

Amer­i­can Indi­ans and His­pan­ics his­tor­i­cally have been under-represented in the sci­en­tific fields, and there is a steady decline in the num­ber of Amer­i­can Indian and His­panic stu­dents grad­u­at­ing with sci­ence and engi­neer­ing degrees. Fur­ther, chronic dis­eases like obe­sity, type 2 dia­betes, and can­cer are a major health con­cern for Amer­i­can Indi­ans and Hispanics.

“The lower rep­re­sen­ta­tion of Amer­i­can Indi­ans and His­pan­ics in the sci­ences cou­pled with higher bur­den of chronic dis­eases among these pop­u­la­tions poses a seri­ous national chal­lenge,” Mishra says. “Through the use of inno­v­a­tive tech­nolo­gies and edu­ca­tional strate­gies, we hope to fos­ter and nur­ture inter­est among mid­dle school stu­dents about careers in the sciences.”

SEPA was cre­ated to encour­age active bio­med­ical and/or behav­ioral sci­en­tists to work as part­ners with edu­ca­tors, media experts, com­mu­nity lead­ers, and other inter­ested orga­ni­za­tional lead­ers on projects that improve stu­dent under­stand­ing of the health sci­ences in K-12 edu­ca­tion, and increase the public’s under­stand­ing of science.

The NM FRESH: New Mexico’s Future Researchers Explor­ing Sci­ence and Healthre­search project is the first time in the 21-year his­tory of the NIH SEPA pro­gram that New Mex­ico, an Insti­tu­tional Devel­op­ment Award (IDeA) state, has received a SEPA award.

“This project builds on the UNM PRC’s exten­sive exper­tise in school and com­mu­nity based pre­ven­tion research,” adds Pedi­atrics Pro­fes­sor Sally Davis. “The project will shift edu­ca­tional par­a­digms by includ­ing research-tested nutri­tion and phys­i­cal activ­ity con­tent in a pro­gres­sively detailed sci­ence enrich­ment cur­ricu­lum, which will be sup­ported by Health and Sci­ence Fairs, web-based activ­i­ties to enhance crit­i­cal think­ing, stu­dent men­tor­ing, and pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment for teachers.”

For more infor­ma­tion on the Sci­ence Edu­ca­tion Part­ner­ship Award (SEPA), visit:http://www.ncrrsepa.org/. For more infor­ma­tion on the UNM Pre­ven­tion Research Cen­ter, visit:http://hsc.unm.edu/som/prc/.