Education

Children and families learn to find their pulse at the Boston Children’s Museum.	Students listen to their hearts with a stethoscope.

PhUn Week was kicked off by an all-day event at the Boston Children’s Museum that was organized and led by Andrea Gwosdow, museum staff, and a crew of research volunteers. Children were engaged by finding their pulses and experiencing the museum’s KidPower Health Exhibit.

Young students listened to their heart beats simply with stethoscopes in rural New Mexico with 2007 APS K-12 Outreach Fellow Jessica Clark (Washington Univ. School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO).

Another 2007 APS K-12 Minority Outreach Fellow, Clintoria Richards-Williams (Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham) orchestrated department faculty, postdocs, and grad students in working with teachers to reach out to several Birmingham schools. They included a “Dress a Scientist” activity to debunk the traditional perceptions of scientists.

Guido Santacana and Jose Garcia (Univ. of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan) led a team of volunteers and coordinated a two day event with elementary and high school students. Students identified basic health terms in a word find puzzle, and learned about blood flow and heart chambers by coloring activities developed by the volunteer crew. The students were captivated by hamster heart specimens that were brought in by a volunteer whose research was on this animal model.

Teens competed to see how many repetitions they can squeeze an anatomical stress-ball heart while learning about muscle fatigue.

Students measured their blood pressure with stethoscopes and cuffs when APS members visited their classroom. In a rural community with only regional schools in Nebraska, students learned about blood pressure by visiting an exercise performance laboratory on the campus of Wayne State College in Wayne, NE. The campus was arranged as an “open house” field trip organized by Barbara Engebretsen.

Students also visited the campus of the University of North Dakota and had a two-day event among different research laboratories, headed by Van Doze and 2007 APS Research Teacher Lorraine O’Shea.

Also from the University of North Dakota, Joseph Benoit (Education Committee) visited his daughter’s second grade classroom and received heartfelt thank you notes a few days later.
 

Students eagerly observe a hamster heart specimen.	Teenagers learn about muscle fatigue with a “squeezy” heart.

Other teenagers observed their blood pressure and pulse rate by using the LabTutor monitoring systems generously loaned by ADInstruments, Inc. at two event sites, St. Louis, MO (Jessica Clark in partnership with Alecia Riley of ADI), and Vermillion, SD (Barbara Goodman, APS Councillor, Univ. of South Dakota, and Sally Stoll, past APS Research Teacher).

A high school student on an exercise bicycle prepares to have his blood pressure taken before and after exertion.	A second grader’s note of appreciation for an APS member’s visit to the classroom.

All event sites received educational resources for students such as the Science of Life, Physiology Research in Action comic books, career brochures, and promotional memorabilia such as squeezy anatomical hearts, wrist sweatbands, and drawstring sport packs. The team of volunteers received PhUn Week 2007 t-shirts. Additionally, APS members and lead teacher coordinators received travel mugs in recognition of their time and efforts in planning successful PhUn Week events across the nation. The great success of this APS member-based program is a tribute to the dedication and commitment of our members who can make an impact on the future generation of research scientists.
 

Students put leads on each other while using ADInstruments PowerLabs data acquisition systems to monitor heart and pulse rates.	Jose Garcia from the Univ. of Puerto Rico hands out the PhUn Week drawstring sport packs to students as a memento of their visit to the school.

Plans are in full motion for PhUn Week 2008 during the week of November 3. The theme will again focus on the physiology of exercise and fitness, but APS members are welcome to focus on other areas of physiology. For more detailed information, be sure to join us for a continental breakfast at the PhUn Week training session on Sunday, April 6 at EB 2008. Send an email to: phunweek@the-aps.org to reserve your spot at the breakfast session, and/or for notification of program updates on the www.PhUnWeek.org website. For other information, contact Mel Limson in the Education Office at mlimson@the-aps.org.
 

Table 1. Lead coordinators and event sites for PhUn Week 2007. RT: APS Research Teacher (current or past fellow), PS: Primary School, ES: Elementary School, MS: Middle School, HS: High School.
Lead APS Member Coordinator	Institution	Lead Teacher Coordinator	City, State	School Level
Joey Benoit Marvin Bernstein Lorrie Brilla Jackie Brittingham Virginia Brooks Jessica Clark Caron Dean-Bernhoft Van Doze Barbara Engebretsen Jeff Falcone Robin Gandley Barbara Goodman Andrea Gwosdow David Holtzclaw Steven Miller Jeffrey Osborn Clintoria Richards-Williams Roy Russ Guido Santacana, Jose Garcia Colon Patric Stanton Caroline Sussman Karen Sweazea, Jessica Snow Andrew Thomas Catherine Uyehara Stan Willenbring n/a n/a n/a	Univ. of North Dakota New Mexico State Univ. Western Washington Univ. Simpson College Oregon Health and Science Univ. Washington Univ. School of Medicine Medical College of Wisconsin Univ. of North Dakota Wayne State College Univ. of Louisville Univ. of Pittsburgh Univ. of South Dakota Gwosdow Associates Science Consultants Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center Indiana Univ. School of Medicine Univ. of Kentucky Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Mercer Univ. School of Medicine Univ. of Puerto Rico New York Medical College Mayo Clinic Univ. of New Mexico Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ - New Jersey Medical School Tripler Army Medical Center Dabney S. Lancaster Community College n/a n/a n/a	Sarah Holtzman Sandra Cross (RT) Beth Crissy, Mindy Galbraith, Carter Maden, Mark Parrish, Julie Pohlman, Doug Robinson Will Nailor Debbie Frankel (RT) Kerry Zimmerman Frank Lammers Lorraine O’Shea (RT) Ed Brogie Jonni Miller (RT) April Wright Sally Stoll (RT) Alissa Daniels, Emily Kuross Kaye Goetzinger, Lisa Sterba Norman Leonard (RT), Kathryn Madren (RT) Donna Martin V. Maiden Stephanie Blackwell Zugeily Marcano Maria DeCandia (RT) Gina Sundsmo, Jennifer Blaine, Kari Shultz Craig Snow Dawn DeMayo (RT) Jo Ann Yamane Stephen Biscotte (RT) Margaret Shain (RT) Cory Slifstein (RT) Tonya Smith (RT)	Grand Forks, ND Las Cruces, NM Bellingham, WA Indianola, IA Sherwood, OR St. Louis, MO Milwaukee, WI Grand Forks, ND Wayne, NE Louisville, KY Gibsonia, PA Vermillion, SD Boston, MA Omaha, NE Indianapolis, IN Lexington, KY Birmingham, AL Macon, GA San Juan, PR Scarsdale, NY Rochester, MN Albuquerque, NM Montclair, NJ Honolulu, HI Roanoke, VA New Albany, IN Guilford, CT Sumter, SC	ES MS HS ES MS HS ES MS HS HS ES MS PS/ES ES/MS HS HS ES ES MS/HS MS/HS PS/ES MS HS ES HS MS MS MS

APS Presents Awards at ABRCMS Conference

• Kwesi Blackman (Undergraduate Sophomore); Kingsborough Community College; “Di-(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) Affects Drosophila melanogaster Development Possibly Through Meiotic Defects During Spermatogenesis;”
• Obinna Mmagu (Undergraduate Junior); Univ. of Delaware; “The PPARa Agonist, Fenofibrate, Increases MUC1 Expression in T47D Breast Cancer Cells;”
• Chau Tran (Undergraduate Junior); Univ. of California, San Diego; “The Role of Matrix Gla Protein in Preventing Systemic Calcification of Soft Tissues;”
• Leslie Amonoo (Undergraduate Senior); Univ. of Iowa; “MAP2 Expression in Mouse Retina and its Potential Contributions to Blinding Eye Disease;”
• Reyniak Richards (Undergraduate Senior); Oakwood College; “Binding Studies of Aptamer and Universal Antidote Complexes;”
• Debi Thomas (Undergraduate Senior); Univ. of California, Davis; “Perinatal Exposure to 2,2’,4,4’-Tetrabromodiphenyl Ether (PBDE-47) Retards Growth and Delays Neurodevelopment of C57BL/6J Mice.”
   

The APS congratulates the students on a job well done and wishes them the best in their academic pursuits.
Richards-Williams also staffed an exhibit booth, highlighting the following awards, programs and resources for minority groups underrepresented in science:

• APS/NIDDK Minority Travel Fellowship, providing travel support for 50-70 students annually. This fellowship provides funds to attend Experimental Biology and the fall APS conferences. Awardees also are paired with a mentor, an APS member, in their area of research. The intent of this program is to increase participation of pre- and postdoctoral minority students in the physiological sciences;
• Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship, supporting up to 24. fellowships each year. Fellowships support full-time undergraduate students to work in the laboratory of an APS member. The goal of this program is to excite and encourage students to pursue a career as a basic research scientist;
• Porter Physiology Fellowship Program, supporting minority students pursuing full-time studies toward a PhD in the physiological sciences;
• APS Minority Listserv, providing information on APS News, awards, grants, fellowships, science news, positions available and more.
• The Career brochure and Career web site, the Archive of Teaching Resources, the Timeline of Physiology, membership for students, and information about Experimental Biology 2008 also were provided for participants.

The ABRCMS meeting is sponsored by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Minority Opportunities for Research Programs (MORE), which includes the MARC, MBRS:RISE, MBRS: SCORE, MBRS:IMSD, MBRS, and BRIDGES programs and is coordinated by the American Society for Microbiology. For more information see www.abrcms.org. For more information regarding the awards, programs and fellowships administered by the APS Education Office, please visit http://www.the-aps.org/education/index.htm or contact the office at education@the-aps.org or (301) 634-7132.

APS Represented at the National Association of Biology Teachers
2007 Professional Development Conference in Atlanta

Education Special Sessions at EB

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