Scorecard for the “Movement”
to Infuse Epidemiology Education into Grades 6-12:
What Progress Has Been Made in the Past Five Years?
138th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association
3210.0 Epidemiology Education and Capacity
Monday, November 8, 2010, 12:30 – 2:00 PM
Hyatt Regency, Capitol Ballroom 1
Wendy Huebner PhD
Mark Kaelin EdD
Health & Nutrition Sciences
Montclair State University
Presentation Overview
1.
Public health and educational rationale for teaching epidemiology to
students in grades 6-12.
2.
What is the Epidemiology Education Movement?
3.
4.
•
Origins
•
Goals and Framework for Action
Scorecard and Examples
•
Develop Curricula
•
Prepare Teachers
•
Create Demand
•
Maintain Momentum
•
Assess Short- and Long-Term Goals
Conclusions and Discussion
Why teach epidemiology to younger students?
Middle
School
High
School
3
Why teach epidemiology to younger students?
Top 8 Reasons to Teach / Learn about Epidemiology
1.
Empowers students to be scientifically literate participants in the
democratic decision-making process concerning public health policy.
2.
Empowers students to make more informed personal health-related
decisions.
3.
Increases students’ media literacy and their understanding of public health
messages.
4.
Increases students’ understanding of the basis for determining risk.
5.
Improves students’ mathematical and scientific literacy.
6.
Expands students’ understanding of scientific methods and develops their
critical thinking skills.
7.
Provides students with another mechanism for exploring important, real
world questions about their health and the health of others.
8.
Introduces students to an array of career paths related to the public’s
health.
.
What is the Epidemiology Education Movement?
Originated by a small group of epidemiologists and educators with a
personal passion and professional interest in integrating epidemiology
and other public health sciences into elementary and secondary
schools
Premise
• If we define education as something that prepares people to
live in their world, it should include giving people tools with
which to make informed lifestyle and societal decisions that
affect their health.
• If people with common interests in K-12 epidemiology
education were aware of each others' activities, we could
move more quickly to critical mass and a step change
2005 – APHA Meeting
• Presented at APHA 2005 to help introduce effort*
*
Presenters: Ralph Cordell, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; David Fraser, College Board and
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Mark Kaelin and Wendy Huebner, Montclair State University
2005 – Examples in Curriculum Toolbox
Goals and Framework for Action
Develop
Curricula
Prepare
Teachers
Goals
Infuse epidemiology
education into curricula
in grades 6-12
Create new
curricula and
enhance existing
curricula
Implement
teacher training
workshops in a
variety of venues
Improve scientific literacy
Develop cadre of
epidemiology
curriculum
developers
Implement
demonstration
projects in a
variety of school
and non-school
venues
Increase the number of
students preparing for
careers in public health
Evaluate curricula
Maintain
Momentum
Create
Demand
Develop mechanisms to make people aware of the
efforts of others (web site, newsletter, list serve)
Infuse into educational structure (state / national
standards, standardized testing, textbooks)
Develop mechanisms to focus and coordinate
efforts of many interested but busy stakeholders
Obtain support of stakeholders (educators,
epidemiologists, public health community, professional
organizations, scientific journals, government)
Assess Short- and Long-Term Goals
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Next: Scorecard
and examples . . .
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Create new curricula and enhance
existing curricula
Develop cadre of epidemiology
curriculum developers
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Evaluate curricula
Examples:
1. New curricula for middle and high school
2. Science Olympiad trial event
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
1. New curriculum for high school
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
http://www.montclair.edu/drugepi/
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
1. New curriculum for middle school
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
(Under development)
National Center for
Research Resources
(NCRR)
National Institutes
of Health (NIH)
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
2. Science Olympiad trial event
Based on authentic assessments, as
realistic as possible, complex experiences
that allow opportunities for rehearsal, practice,
consultation, feedback, and refinement
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Hypothesis: Authentic epidemiology assessments will capture
students’ attention and challenge their scientific reasoning
Goal: To have students learn, do, and get excited about
epidemiology
Rationale: Science competitions provide an alternate venue for
introducing non-traditional content and/or learning experiences
http://www.njscienceolympiad.org/content/events/c/websites/epidemiology/index.html
2010 S0 Epi Challenge Event
Overview
•
A high school trial event in New Jersey, for which points were awarded at
both the regional and state competitions
• Epi Challenge format
– Teams of four students tested a hypothesis by conducting an
epidemiological study in their school district
– Each team selected their own health-related hypothesis among several
choices of exposures and outcomes to study
– Teams submitted detailed proposals and other materials according to
instructions and templates
– Regional competition: scoring and ranking of study proposals
– State competition: presentation of study results in a poster session, with
assessment by 10 epidemiologist judges
2010 S0 Epi Challenge Event
Ethics training required of all team members:
NIH online training in research ethics
2010 NJ State Finals
2010 NJ State Finals
2010 NJ State Finals
2010 NJ State Finals
2010 NJ State Finals
2010 NJ State Finals
Think Like an Epidemiologist Challenge
New Jersey Science Olympiad, March 16, 2010
Name
School
Thank you for stepping up, being a pioneer, and competing in the first
Think Like an Epidemiologist Challenge trial event.
You worked with others, developed epidemiologic knowledge and skills,
and used judgment and innovation to actually "do" epidemiology under pressure.
We hope you enjoyed the challenge.
Detectives
in the Classroom
Teach
Epidemiology
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Special thanks to the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association for allowing us to distribute their Section pins to
the student participants in the 2010 Think Like an Epidemiologist Challenge.
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Implement teacher training
workshops in a variety of venues
Implement demonstration projects in
a variety of school and non-school
venues
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Examples:
1. Teach Epidemiology professional development workshops
2. Social Networking of Teach Epidemiology alumni to develop
lessons from current news stories
3. Demonstration projects
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
1. Teach Epidemiology
• Professional development workshops to
increase use of Young Epidemiology Scholars
(YES) teaching units supported by the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
• Over the past four years, fourteen workshops have been held for more
than 250 teachers
• Workshops feature YES Teaching Units and other epidemiology curricula
• Held by an educator and an epidemiologist, workshops include:
 Learning epidemiological concepts
 Observing epidemiology lessons for students
 Hands-on teaching experience
o Create and teach new epidemiology lessons
o Teach existing epidemiology lessons
o Infuse epidemiology into existing lesson about something else
o View a news item from an epidemiologic perspective
http://www.teachepidemiology.org/
Teach Epidemiology
CDC Global Odyssey Museum, Atlanta 2010
Teach Epidemiology
Incline Village, NV 2010
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
2. Social networking of Teach
Epidemiology alumni to develop “real
time” lessons
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
“Bed Bugs Found
at Times Square Movie
Theater”
To understand something as a specific instance of a more general case
… is to have learned not only a specific thing but also a model
for understanding other things like it that one may encounter.
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
3. Demonstration Projects
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
After-School
Epidemiology and
Public Health Club
Middletown (PA) Area
High School
“The Descriptive
Epidemiology of
Absenteeism”
Epidemiology Camp,
Clarion, PA
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
3. Demonstration Projects
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Creating a Public Health
School-to-Career Path in
four Newark (NJ) high
schools that motivates
them toward public health
fields
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Infuse into educational structure
(state / national standards,
standardized testing, textbooks)
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Obtain support of stakeholders
(educators, epidemiologists, public
health community, professional
organizations, scientific journals,
government)
Examples:
1. Georgia standards for high school epidemiology course
2. Professional meetings
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
1. Georgia standards for high school
epidemiology course
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Georgia is the first state to offer
epidemiology at the high school
level. Standards have been
developed for creation of
curricula so that can students
can study epidemiology. Taking
an epidemiology course will
meet state science
requirements.
https://www.georgiastandards.org/Standards/Pages/BrowseStandards/
ScienceStandards9-12.aspx
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
2. Professional Meetings
• American Public Health Association (APHA)
Meetings - 2005-2010
• New Jersey Science Convention (NJSTA)
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)
• 2006 North American Congress of Epidemiology
• Consensus Conference on Undergraduate Public Health Education,
Boston University School of Public Health
• National Science and Technology Week annual event held by the National
Resources Canada (NRCan)
• Public Health Education Stakeholders Meeting – Penn State Hershey
College of Medicine
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Develop mechanisms to make
people aware of the efforts of
others (website, newsletter, list
serve)
Develop mechanisms to focus and
coordinate efforts of many
interested but busy stakeholders
Examples:
1. Website
2. Publications
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
http://www.epiedmovement.org/index.htm
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
2. Publications
“Epidemiology and Education: Using Public
Health for Teaching Mathematics and
Science” DF Stroup and SB Thacker. Public
Health Reports, 2007; Vol 122
“Epidemiology, the basic science of public health,
provides a compelling and relevant context for
teaching science and mathematics ... and is an
avenue for enabling students to grasp the relevance of
real-world application of mathematics and science …”
“Professional Development for Prospective
Epidemiology Teachers in Grades 6-16:
What Will We Do?" M Kaelin, W Huebner,
R Cordell, B Szklarczuk. Public Health Reports
2008 Supplement 2, Vol 123.
Prepare Teachers
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
Perform assessments of short-term
outcomes (e.g., knowledge in
epidemiology, problem-solving skills)
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Perform assessments of key longterm metrics of success (e.g., time
trends in science scores, science
enrollment, careers)
Examples:
1. Funding organizations are urging more rigorous evaluations
2. Collaboration, communication, and mutual interest among
stakeholders
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
1. Funding organizations are urging more
rigorous evaluations
Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPA)
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
(from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR),
part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
•
SEPA has increased evaluation requirements in recent years
•
SEPA is supporting the development/testing of an instrument to measure
scientific literacy, for use in one project and potential use in other future projects
The Institute of Educational Sciences (IES) (part of the US Department of
Education)
• IES sets high standards of evaluation in separate grants to address “Efficacy
and Replication” projects. (Efficacy is defined as “the degree to which an intervention has a
net positive impact on the outcomes of interest in relation to the program or practice to which it is
being compared.”)
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
Prepare Teachers
2. Collaboration, communication, and
mutual interest among stakeholders
Create Demand
Maintain Momentum
Assess Outcomes
Pathways have developed and
strengthened since 2005
Science Olympiad
Teach
Epidemiology
(RWJF)
Epi Monitor
Georgia
Department of
Education
Curriculum
Developers in
SEPA Program
NJ Office of Career
and Technical Education
CDC Science Education and Professional
Development Program Office
Epidemiology
Section of APHA
CDC Global Health
Odyssey Museum
Young Epidemiology Scholars
(YES) Competition (RWJF)
Newark Public Schools
Penn State Hershey
College of Medicine
Framework for Action
Develop Curricula
In conclusion . . .
Prepare Teachers
Do you feel the
“Movement?”
Create Demand
How can we meet the
continuing challenges?
Assess Outcomes
•
•
•
•
Maintain Momentum
Finding “room” in classrooms / alternate venues
Teacher outreach and follow-up
Standards in more states
Short- and long-term evaluations