Improving Biology Education Across the Nation, One Teacher at a Time

Dr. Nikki Hanegan, Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology, and her colleagues have been awarded over 1.5 million dollars for two projects to improve biological science education inUtah, Louisiana, and across the nation. The two projects, Project Crawfish an education component (Collaborative Research: AToL: Morphological and Molecular Phylogeny of the Decapod Crustaceans) and UBEST (Utah's Biodiversity Experiences for Students and Teachers), are supported by the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education. The goals of both projects are 1) to improve science content knowledge for high school teachers, 2) increase the number of hours high school students are engaged in conducting scientific research and 3) improve access to tools and knowledge about scientific research conducted in the College of Biology and Agriculture at BrighamYoungUniversity. These two projects have supported mentoring efforts for four graduate students and 14 undergraduate students from College of Biology and Agriculture, Information Systems, and Family, Home and Social Sciences.

The content focus for Project Crawfish is biotechnology from gels to bioinformatics using decapods as the model organisms. Collaborators on this project includeKeith Crandall, David McClellan, Byron Adams, and Jack Sites. Work from this project has produced a manual for professional development for high school biology teachers presented to 25 teachers from California, Oregon,Washington State, Connecticut, New York, Texas, and Utah. One graduate thesis "Biotechnology and Inquiry" and two journal articles have resulted from Project Crawfish; as well as two presentations at national conferences. In addition, a web site with educational activities and professional development ideas for AToL has been developed. This web site can be accessed at:http://inbio.byu.edu/faculty/nhaneg/crawfish/index.htm. Currently, high school teachers across the nation who have undergone the Project Crawfish professional development program may check out a mobile biotechnology lab produced by Hanegan Laboratories to use in their schools with their students for two weeks at a time. Project Crawfish collaborates directly with five school districts fromUtahand Louisiana conducting education research examining the effects of biotechnology programs on high school students and their teachers in high academic settings and alternative (at-risk student) settings.

The content focus for UBEST is insect/plant biodiversity and interactions using flies collected at theGrandStaircaseNationalEscalante Monument as the model organisms. Collaborators on this project include Riley Nelson and Robert Johnson. UBEST is a nationally recognized university/public school collaborative partnership for improving biological science education in high schools. Work from this project has produced one graduate thesis, "Authentic and Simulated Inquiry: A Comparison Study of Two Professional Development Programs", three journal articles, two papers presented at professional conferences, and five national, state, regional, and local conference presentations. UBEST currently engages 26 teachers from 24 schools across the state of Utah, impacting approximately 3900 students each year. Education research on this project results from school site visits and classroom observations to understand the delicate teacher/student interactions that take place during scientific investigations in the high school classroom. To date, participating schools have access to more than $50,000 in equipment to conduct field research with their high school students ranging from malaise traps to plant presses. Participants can also access information and research produced from UBEST efforts at:http://inbio.byu.edu/faculty/nhaneg/ubest/.

By Dr. Nikki Hanegan, October 16, 2006