Partners in Health Sciences: Teachers, Students, Public

Grant #: R25RR12346

Principal Investigator: E. Robert Burns, Ph.D.
Project Site: K-14 Education Programs-slot 773, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W. Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: 501-603-1971 or 501-686-5139
E-mail: Burnsbob@exchange.uams.edu

Summary of Project

Partners in Health Sciences (PIHS) is a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) initiative that began in 1991 as a means for the only medical school in Arkansas to achieve a closer working relationship with the K-14 educational structure in the State. Initial funding for this program was provided by I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., Dean of the College of Medicine with subsequent grant support from the Department of Higher Education under its Eisenhower program and a grant fromThe Kellogg Foundation. Beginning in 9/1/97 the PIHS program was funded by a Science Education Partnership Award from NIH/NCRR. UAMS faculty-most of them parents themselves-provide significant in-kind support to PIHS by volunteering to teach in the PIHS program. Each year the PIHS curriculum has been based on 1) teacher/student needs assessments, 2) UAMS faculty areas of teaching excellence, and 3) year-2000 health-education goals. Since its beginning in 1991 PIHS has grown to include: 1) a summer program of mini courses offered on the UAMS campus to K-14 teachers during June and July, 2) weekly interactive television (ITV) broadcasts by UAMS faculty directly to grade 7-12 students throughout the state during the regular academic year, 3) training workshops in Authorware in which selected teachers author CAI modules on health related topics which are posted to our web site, 4) field trips to the UAMS campus for groups of grade 7-14 students and their teachers and 5) a monthly science night for students and their parents at a local science magnet high school. Between 1991 and 1999, 814 different K-12 teachers have consumed 21,972 hrs of CE in 63 different topics taught by 103 different faculty over 178 mini course days. Each of the 63 different topics presented in the mini course component are accompanied by a faculty prepared course syllabus. 5,500 students have participated in the ITV outreach program, 30 CAI modules have been developed by teachers, 770 students have come to the UAMS campus for field trips, and about 150 different students and their parents have attended "science night" annually. Beginning in 1999 the PIHS program expanded its student outreach program to include students a the Arkansas School for the Blind.

Publications

  1. "The role that the profession of family medicine played in the development of the UAMS Partners in Health Science Program for K-12 teachers and students", Arkansas Family Physician, Volume 2, Issue 1, 1999.

Presentations

  1. Annual presentation before the statewide meeting of all of the educational cooperatives in Arkansas.

Materials

  1. 63 different syllabi (First editions) developed: one for each different disease-based, health science topics.

    • SEVERAL VIDEOS:

      • "FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN HEART"
      • "KEEPING THE BEAT: HOW TO TREAT HEART DISEASE"
      • "NORMAL AND ABNORMAL CARDIAC PHYSIOLOGY"
      • "MICROSCOPIC TOUR OF THE EYE-INCLUDES A SEGMENT ON
      • CATARACT SURGERY"
      • "MICROSCOPIC TOUR OF THE URINARY SYSTEM"
      • "FACES OF AIDS".
      • "MICROSCOPIC TOUR OF THE SKIN"

    All of these can be obtained by contacting Bob Burns.

  2. Our web site will eventually house teacher-authored computer assisted instruction modules.

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