Center for Environmental and Rural Health
Texas A & M University

College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University
Funded by:
National Institute of
Environmental
Health Sciences and the National
Science Foundation

Rural Schools w
Typically have a more limited access to a variety of instructional resources. w
Have special environmental health hazards unique to a rural setting.
Middle Schools w
Primary developmental period for gaining personal competence and an interest in science.

w Improve student enthusiasm for learning and increase overall academic performance.
w Encourage teachers across all subjects to use environmental health science topics to motivate students and help them relate science instruction to real world situations.

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
Curricular Development Scientists’ Visits to Schools
Professional Development Distance Learning Community

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through: Curriculum Development
Integrative Approach w Develop an engaging model for integrating environmental health science into science, math,
English, and social studies in grades 6th-8th.
English Language
Arts
Science
Environmental
Health Science
Social Studies Mathematics

Consists of:
1.
A written story-line narrative in which the characters (young teenagers) travel in space and time to different parts of the world where they are faced with various health problems which they are required to solve.
2. Standards-based problem-solving activities in the form of PowerPoint presentations which integrate environmental health science content into science and non-science courses.

Adventures stories are written by a professional children’s author for age appropriateness and content with each story requiring ~ 20 minutes to read.

Environmental health problems encountered in each location and time in history in the story narratives exemplify problems found in the
U.S. today such as contaminated food and water, air pollution, and contagious or environmentally transmitted diseases.

The location and time in history of adventures are driven by the history content in each grade:
World geography in grade 6
(e.g., Industrial Pollution and Air Quality)
Texas history and geography in grade 7
(e.g., Agricultural Waste and Influenza Epidemic)
United States history in grade 8
(e.g., Bioterrorism and Vaccinations)

th
1. Ancient Egypt: Sickness from contaminated water
2.
East Asia (China): Air quality and respiratory problems
3.
Ukraine: Industrial or nuclear pollutants (cancer)
4. South America (Peru): Chagas Disease
5. Subsaharan Africa (Congo): Ebola or AIDS
6. South Asia (India): Infectious Hepatitis

th
1. Central Texas: Yellow Fever epidemic
2. Coastal Texas: Influenza epidemic
3. South Texas: Rabies
4. Houston: Smog/Air Pollution
5. Texas Panhandle: Nuclear waste – contamination
6. West Texas: Agricultural waste – contamination

th
1. Bioterrorism/ Smallpox – Eastern US with earlier settlers, pre-1865
2. Brown Lung – Massachusetts, pre-1865
3. Cholera – New York 1832
4. Lead poisoning – Philadelphia, pre-1865
5. Tuberculosis – Baltimore, pre-1865
6. Understanding environmental risk

Science and Non-Science Courses
Hard River Escape involves a journey back in time to the Ukraine just after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, where the characters discover pollution along the Dneiper
River and five-legged frogs.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Reading Comprehension Quiz
Students take a quiz to check their reading comprehension of the adventure story.

Science and Non-Science Courses
This module investigates water contamination of workers during the construction of King
Tut’s tomb in ancient
Egypt.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
The Jade Dragon involves air contamination and smoking in
China as the adventurers visit the Three River Dam that is being built.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
The Kiss of the Assassin focuses on pathogens and bacterial infectious diseases like Chagas Disease which can be transmitted by insects that harbor bacteria or pathogens and serve as a vectors for disease.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
Congo Cry involves a journey to the Congo where the characters are confronted with both animal and human infections of Ebola and AIDS. Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
Social
Studies
Science
Midnight at the Marble Tomb focuses on the health consequences of raw sewage in streets, acupuncture, tattoos, body piercing, blood transfusions, and organ donations in
India.
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
Texas: 1867 focuses on the
Yellow Fever epidemic in Texas after the end of the Civil
War and its effects on our communities.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
March Madness is set in
Galveston and focuses on the influenza epidemic during
World War I and its effects on the citizens of Texas.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Science and Non-Science Courses
Three Rivers, Three Nations takes a look at bioterrorism, focusing on the use of smallpox during the
French and Indian War in the 18th Century.
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
English Language Arts

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
Regional workshops provide teachers with technology training (Microsoft PowerPoint) and curriculum integration of environmental health science into science, math,
English language arts, and social studies.

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
Pre-Service Teachers
Explain the scientific method in a way that it can be easily used in their class (e.g., how is it like detective work?).
Provide content lectures
Provide informational resources.
Provide mentoring.

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
Teachers receive continuing education credit and up to $200 for travel and lodging expense.
Workshop Location: Date:
College Station, TX May 31-6/1, 2004
College Station, TX June 2-3, 2004
Edinburg, TX June 8-9, 2004
Victoria, TX
Huntsville, TX
June 10-11, 2004
June 15-16, 2004
Santa Fe, TX
Temple, TX
Mt. Pleasant, TX
El Paso, TX
Lubbock, TX
June 17-18, 2004
June 28-29, 2004
July 15-16, 2004
July 27-28, 2004
July 29-30, 2004

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
Scientists’ Visits to Middle Schools and
Interactions with Middle School Students
Over 20,000 students visited!

Wings Across Texas – Experiential Learning for Middle School Students
By using a small, single-engine aircraft, scientists have been able to make scientific presentations at schools that are remotely located.

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
• Online Science Curricula
• Virtual Scientists’ Presentations
• Virtual Interviews with Scientists and
Educators
• Establishment of a Distance Learning
Community

Online
Environmental
Health Science
Curricula
(http://peer.tamu.edu)

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through:
NSF GK-12 Project
Graduate Fellows seek to provide materials, hands-on activities, and resources specifically requested by Middle School teachers.
This can be anything from finding answers to specific questions to finding a good website with needed information or activities.

• Adventure Booklet and CDs
• Workshop Schedule
• PEER Introduction
• Curriculum PowerPoint Slides
• Curriculum Supplements
• PowerPoint Basics
• Resources (includes definitions and concepts of toxicology)

Assignment 1 – Adventure Narrative
Read the adventure narrative and think of activities unique to your teaching experiences that might relate to the content of the story which would provide a basis for you to generate a PowerPoint slide in the TAKS-like format.
Assignment 2 – Evaluation/Critique of Curricular
PowerPoint Materials
Critique the curricular slides and write on the hardcopy provided your comments and suggestions for the improvement of content, age-appropriateness, etc.
Also, identify 3 slides that you will modify in the next assignment to produce a TAKS-like activity within each of your 3 identified slides.

Assignment 3 – Build your own Lesson
From our set of curricular slides, select and order an appropriate number of slides to produce a lesson set of slides that you might give to your class. In building this lesson set, produce 1 new slide and modify at least 3 of the existing slides. At the beginning of your lesson set, produce (insert) a new “Time and
Description” slide, indicating the required amount of time for implementation of the lesson and how you envision that this lesson might be used (i.e., as an example of integration, or as a computer-use activity, or to introduce or enhance a topic, or to address certain TEKS, or to provide your students with examples of TAKS-like activities).

Assignment 3 – Build your own Lesson (continued)
Once the lesson set is complete, make a copy of your 1 new and 3 modified slides and insert these copies at the very beginning of your lesson set. This will allow us to easily peruse your new and modified slides in your lesson.
Example of Slide Sequence in your saved file:
Slide 1 – Your generated slide.
Slide 2 – Modified slide
Slide 3 – Modified slide
Slide 4 – Modified slide
Slide 5 – Time and use description
Slide 6 – The beginning of your complete, entire lesson

Assignment 4 – Demonstrations of Produced Lessons
Demonstrate your generated and modified slides, and be prepared to discuss your modifications.
All lessons sets from this workshop will be collected, burned on a CD (with other lesson sets from other workshops), and distributed back to all workshop participants.

Public School – Higher Education
Interface through: An Invitation to YOU!
Request a CD of our Integrative Curriculum
Professional Development Workshops
Request for a Scientist’s Visit to Your School
Join the PEER Distance Learning Community
PEER Website: http://peer.tamu.edu
Partnership for Environmental Education and Rural health (PEER)
Texas A & M University