SBIR-STTR Award

Danya International, Inc., proposes the development, evaluation, and promotion of a curriculum for seventh and eighth-grade students on genetics and current genomic research. The curriculum will consist of a teacher's guide with lessons on the teaching of genetics and genomic research, a discussion sheet that prompts student interaction on these topics and that can be taken home to parents or shared with friends, and a CD-ROM comprised of games, activities, quizzes, and additional information to support the lessons. These products have the following goals: to teach students about genetics, specifically, human genetic variation; to teach children about the importance of genomic research; to discuss the legal, social, and ethical implications of this research; to increase children's interest in genetics and science in general; and to provide teachers and parents with easy-to-implement, interesting, and informative materials about genetics. In Phase I of the project period, the content for the teacher's guide, discussion sheet, and the first module of the CD-ROM will be developed; approved by an expert panel; and evaluated by teachers, students, and parents. During Phase II, the teacher's guide and discussion sheet will be formatted, laid out, and printed; and the remainder of the CD-ROM will be programmed. Once these tasks have been completed, a comprehensive evaluation of the curriculum will be conducted in a number of schools, using a pretest/posttest control group study to determine if exposure to the program increases knowledge and positive attitudes about genetics and genomic research.

Thesaurus Terms:
adolescence (12-20), education evaluation /planning, educational resource design /development, human population genetics, science education DVD /CD ROM, computer human interaction, curriculum, ethics, gene mutation, health science research, secondary school clinical research, focus group, human subject

The need for genetic literacy in the general population is great. Reaching students with engaging information about human genetic principles can help create a new generation with scientific literacy on a topic that may directly impact their personal decisions about health and well-being in the future. During this Phase II project, KDH Research & Communication (KDHRC) proposes the continued development of the Genetics for Kids curriculum (GK). This curriculum for 7th and 8th grade students features multimedia and print components. The objectives of the curriculum are to: 1) provide scientific information on genetic principles and human genetic variation; 2) increase appreciation of importance of genomic research to individuals and society; 3) discuss the legal, social, and ethical implications of this research; 4) increase interest in genetics and science in general; and 5) support teachers' instruction on this topic by providing materials that are standards-based, easy-to-implement, developmentally appropriate, engaging and scientifically rigorous. Working from the Phase I prototype, the goals of this Phase II project are to finish development of the multimedia aspects of the curriculum and to conduct a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test two-group design of the curriculum's effectiveness in reaching the above objectives. This evaluation will be conducted nationwide and will also include assessments by teachers and school administrators of GK's efficacy. At the conclusion of the project, journal articles and practice and policy briefs will disseminate information related to the findings of the evaluation. Simultaneously, the curriculum will be commercialized and disseminated as an evidence-based educational product. Rapid scientific advancements have pushed society to consider the ethical, legal and social implications of new knowledge, technology, and capabilities related to genetics and genomic research. Because of the complexity of the concepts and the increasing ubiquity of their application, there is a demand to disseminate educational materials, particularly to students. The GK curriculum is a multimedia, standards-based, and developmentally-appropriate resource to improve genetic literacy in middle school students that will be disseminated and marketed widely after its development and evaluation.

Thesaurus Terms:
There Are No Thesaurus Terms On File For This Project.