Education

As originally published in The Physiologist
Volume 46, Number 3, June 2003, pages 101-103

Frontiers in Physiology: Integrating Inquiry, Equity and the Internet 
2003 Teacher and Research Host Awards

Welcome to University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Local Outreach Team

Frontiers in Physiology: Integrating Inquiry, Equity and the Internet 
2003 Teacher and Research Host Awards

    APS is pleased to announce the 2003 awardees for the Frontiers in Physiology Professional Development Fellowship. This nationwide fellowship pairs a middle or high school teacher with an APS member to conduct research during the summer. Other components of the fellowship include a weeklong teaching forum during which the teachers explore inquiry-based teaching, physiology lessons, the use of the Internet in the classroom and equity issues in science education. The Fellowship continues after the summer as the teachers participate in online professional development units and develop and field-test of their own inquiry-based classroom activity and concludes when the teachers attend Experimental Biology 2004.
    More information is available at http://www.the-aps.org/education/frontiers/index.htm. 

Welcome to University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Local Outreach Team

    In September 2002, the APS Education Office welcomed a new Local Outreach Team (LOT) to the Frontiers in Physiology program. The University of Nebraska at Kearney’s LOT is led by APS member Janet E. Steele and includes members from local school districts and researchers from area universities and organizations. (See inset for the full list.) LOT participants traveled two+ hours by car, and the workshop facilitators flew in from Indiana for the January 17, 2003 Training Institute, and received a warm Nebraska welcome despite the cold weather.
    Local Outreach Teams (LOTs) are the grassroots arm of the APS Frontiers in Physiology (http://www.the-aps.org/education/frontiers/index.htm) program. LOTs disseminate physiology-based curriculum and resources to middle and high school life science teachers via in-service workshops. A primary goal of the LOT program is to build connections between physiology researchers and local teachers and schools. The first LOTs were established in 1995 at the University of California, San Diego and Ohio State University. The program has grown steadily since then to a total of 25 LOTs across the country, ranging from Montana to New York to Texas to Wisconsin.
    The leaders of the LOTs are APS members. The teams include physiologists (and/or other biomedical researchers), local middle and high school teachers, and, often, representatives from the local school system. LOT leaders submit an application for funding to support their in-service workshops. APS members interested in starting an LOT can contact the Education Office (education@the-aps.org) for more information.
    The APS Education Office organized a Training Institute for the new LOT members. For the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) LOT, two veteran LOT participants traveled to Nebraska to facilitate the Training Institute C. Subah Packer, who in 1997 established the LOT at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, IN and Sandra Mahl, a teacher at Seymour Elementary School in Seymour, IN. The Training Institute took place on January 17, 2003 in Aurora, NE. Aurora was chosen as the midway point for the team members and the Edgerton Explorit Center, a hands-on science center, hosted the group in its training facility.
    During the Training Institute, the UNK LOT worked through the entire Physiology of Fitness learning cycle unit, as well as explored the concepts behind inquiry-based learning and how to address equity in the science classroom. The workshop included doing hands-on inquiry-based physiology experiments that explore aspects of cardiovascular and respiratory physiology important in exercise and fitness. The Training Institute wrapped up with time for the UNK LOT to plan for its own workshops, which are scheduled for June 2 and June 9, 2003 at the university, and at the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science annual conference in October 2003.
    The LOT program is part of the Frontiers in Physiology program which is funded by the APS, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPA Grant #RR15251), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK Grant #DK 39306) at the National Institutes of Health. 

LOT members Janet Steele, the LOT team leader, Pat Kudlacek, and Karen Gottsch try their hand at one of the Elvis Experiments from the Physiology of Fitness unit for high school students.	LOT members demonstrate the relationship of exercise and the body tissue’s need for oxygen. In the “How Does Exercise Affect the Cardiovascular System” activity, the muscle tissues (Michael Derr and Karen Gottsch) use up some of the “blood’s” (Dan Widick’s) “oxygen” as the “heart” (Joe Ford) prepares to move the blood back to the lungs for a refill.
Karen Gottsch checks Joe Ford’s blood pressure in the “What Effects Does Exercise Have on You?” activity from the Physiology of Fitness Unit. LOT member, Michael Derr, the Executive Director of the Edgerton Explorit Center, observes Karen’s technique.	The LOT Training Workshop facilitators, C. Subah Packer and Sandi Mahl, pause (briefly) for a photo before they head back to Indiana.

[June 2003 Index] [ACDP Survey 2002] [Membership] [Publications] [APS Web News] [Public Affairs] [News From Senior Physiologists] [Positions Available] [Book Reviews] [Guyton Obituary] [People & Places] [Announcements] [Scientific Meetings and Congresses] [APS Membership Application]