4-H Biotechnology Educational Outreach 2006
The overall goal of this project would be to continue to improve the knowledge and
understanding of biotechnology to young people in the State of Kentucky. This effort began in
the summer of 2004 with a pilot CSI Biotech Camp held at Greenbo State Park for 26 eleven to
thirteen year old students. With Venture Grant support in 2005, we are conducting two
Biotechnology Camps August 4 & 5 and Sept. 15 & 16 (see attached agendas). These camps are
proving to be an excellent means to introduce and educate our 4-H youths and agents to
biotechnology and DNA science, as evidenced by gains in appreciation demonstrated in postcamp surveys (see attached). We plan to expand these and related activities in 2006 because of
the educational value of the camps, and because it fulfills a statewide mission of developing an
educated and trained population for a new technology-based economy.
To achieve this goal:
1. Camps – There are 7 districts within the State of Kentucky and to further introduce
Biotechnology to young people, especially those from Tobacco Farm families, we are
planning for at least one 2 day camps in 5 of the 7 districts. A special effort will be made to
hold these in districts 1 and 6 since these two districts have the highest concentration of
tobacco-dependent counties. These camps will be based on the two Biotechnology and Youth
camps held at the North Central 4-H camp in Carlisle in August 2005, the West 4-H camp in
Dawson Springs to be held in September 2005, and prior successful biotech 4-H day camps
(see attached agenda for the West KY Biotech & Youth camps). In addition to the 5 camps
being held in different districts, one statewide camp which would involve an overnight stay is
also planned. The camps are targeted to 7th and 8th graders (as in 2005) because this age
group has demonstrated an interest and enthusiasm in the educational materials and have
been ready participants.
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The district camps are planned for June 2006 to August 2006. The camps are organized
by a team involving a 4-H agent who serves as the overall coordinator and a UK
educational coordinator. The UK educational team consists of the coordinator (David
Hildebrand, a UK Biotech Faculty member), a staff assistant and 4-6 other UK staffstudent assistants. The later individuals are charged with preparation of all the
educational materials and supplies and provide the logistic support for the actual camp
related activities. The 4-H agent from the chosen district for the camp will assist in
coordinating the physical logistics (meeting place, such as an extension building for the
camp), advertisement of the camp within the local community and recruitment of a
minimum of 2 local adult supervisors or chaperons. We currently anticipate the local 4-H
agents will host the camps at their local county 4-H centers.
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The statewide camp is planned for the beginning of August 2006 at the Lake Cumberland
4-H camp and will involve the same suite of personnel as the district camps. A 4-H agent
with be designated as the lead coordinator of the Cumberland camp and will work with
the UK educational coordinator designated to be involved with the camp.
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4-H Biotechnology Educational Outreach 2006
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For each camp held in the different districts, there will be an application process which
will involve having each applicant fill out a form and on this form there will be 2 to 3
questions for the applicant to answer regarding why they should be selected to attend the
camp and what they hope to gain from the camp. An extensive state-wide
advertising/promotion campaign and selection process will be implemented for the single
state-wide camp. We are planning to mount an aggressive promotional campaign
throughout the academic year by contacting middle school science teachers throughout
the state, providing them with some biotechnology educational materials and informing
them about the 4-H Biotech camps. 4-H agents throughout the state will also be involved
in this process and will be asked to contact science teachers in their own counties.
Information materials are available via the internet (e.g.
http://www.ca.uky.edu/brei/Teach/4-H/campBrochure.htm) as well as online application
forms (e.g. http://www.ca.uky.edu/brei/Teach/4-H/westCampForm2.htm). Broadcast
mailings of brochures and applications (see attached) are planned for spring 2006.
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We will recruit 25-30 campers for each of the district camps and 40 for the state-wide
camp. Direct contact with 150 to 190 youths throughout the state plus our promotion and
selection process will certainly convey the message that Kentucky values a scientific and
technology literate populace.
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At least 10% of the places at these camps will be set aside for youths from the 15
counties identified as being most vulnerable due to a decline in tobacco production. We
will make a special effort to contact all science teachers in these counties, mail brochures
to public libraries in these counties and ask all 4-H and Agriculture Extension agents in
these counties to advertise the camp and recruit participants.
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The activities at each of these camps will involve hands on activities using DNA science
to solve a staged crime scene. The camp attendees are also exposed to uses of this
technology for crop improvement, disease diagnosis and production of pharmaceuticals.
Youths will work with actual biotechnology research scientists and gain hands-on
experience with state-of-the-art molecular biology lab equipment.
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In order to make this experience as accessible to as many students as possible, financial
support from this grant will be used to partially cover the costs of a meeting site, supplies
for experiments, handout materials for the attendees, t-shirts for each camp attendees,
refreshments, etc. A modest registration fee will be charged to cover the remaining costs.
2. Introduction to DNA science will be offered as a TRACK activity at the 4-H Teen
conference hosted at the University of Kentucky in June 2006. We offered this Introductory
TRACK during the 2005 conference and anticipate doing so again in 2006. The TRACK
consists of the Introduction to DNA Science and Biotechnology educational module
developed by Dr. Joe Chappell, UK Biotechnology Faculty, for 3 hours each of the two
mornings or afternoons of the Teen conference. As with the camps, these will primarily be
hands-on activities where they actually work with DNA and receive brief overviews
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4-H Biotechnology Educational Outreach 2006
concurrently. The discussion will include topics such as the uses for DNA Science for
Agriculture and Medicine, Ethical Considerations for Biotechnology, and careers
opportunities in Biotechnology.
3. In-Service Training for 4-H Extension Staff
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During 2006 two in-service training events will be held in conjunction with other 4-H
agent events.
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One will be specifically directed to 4-H agents and volunteers to conduct biotechnology
camps in their own counties throughout the state. To enable us to reach more youths in
the future, the in-service training session will be conducted to help 4-H agents learn more
about biotechnology and to teach them how they could conduct a biotechnology camp
within there own county. The introduction to these biotechnology camps would involve
UK and KSU faculty and educational coordinators demonstrating what their institutions
offer for the Biotechnology camps, as well as empowering them how to conduct camps
independently. At this in-service training, agents would get a brief overview of what has
happened at previously held camps, introduction to basic biotechnology terminology,
ideas for holding a biotechnology camp, locations where they can get materials,
instructions for holding a camp, ideas for designing camps of different durations (i.e. oneday, two-day or three-day camps), resources available to run biotech camps and topics.
We plan to invite speakers from Iowa and/or Illinois to discuss their extensive
experiences in holding such 4-H biotech camps for many years now.
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The second in-service training workshop will be open to 4-H agents, Agriculture
Extension agents and the general public, and will cover some of the exciting
developments in molecular farming and plant made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) as well as
new applications of biotechnology in agriculture, medicine, environmental improvement,
renewable resource developments and fossil fuel independence.
Assessing the impact of the Biotechnology Camps: To Evaluate the camps:
1. Attendees are asked to fill-out pre- and post-survey forms, which serve to evaluate the
educational value of each camp and to track the overall educational appreciation over
time (see attached).
2. These survey evaluations are tabulated into a data base so that an overall evaluation of
each camp can be determined, as well as to identify areas needing improvement.
3. Camp attendees also participate in end-of-the-camp exercised that reinforce key concepts
and highlight what they learned during the camp.
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4-H Biotechnology Educational Outreach 2006
Short and Long Range Goals:
Our short and long-range objectives are to improve our understanding of biotechnology and its
applications in agriculture, medicine, law enforcement, manufacturing, and the environment, to
help our youths debate the risks and benefits of technology, and to help them appreciate the
associated ethical, economic and political issues surrounding a technological-based economy.
We expect that many county 4-H agents will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to
conduct biotechnology camps each year on their own (or with local help), reaching at least 30
youth per camp in many counties across the state. We also hope to excite and inspire children
not normally interested or involved with 4-H to get involved and become 4-H members, as well
as to inspire junior scientists to lead economic developments for Kentucky in the future.
Kentucky 4-H Venture Grant Proposal Form
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