Designing an Engaging Middle School STEM Curriculum
Outcome/Accomplishment
The NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (NSF ERC) for Advanced Technologies for the Preservation of Biological Systems (NSF ATP-Bio), co-led by the University of Minnesota and the Massachusetts General Hospital, pursues advances in cryopreservation. The ATP-Bio Organ Transplant Curriculum project is a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort to design and implement an engaging middle school STEM curriculum focused on organ transplantation, allocation, and preservation. The project leverages a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) to create and disseminate this curriculum to teachers seeking to incorporate lessons about these topics. In Year 5, the project made significant advances through iterative review and revision of the curriculum.
Impact/Benefits
This project integrated several ATP-Bio pillars, including Engineering Workforce Development, Convergent Research, and Ethics and Public Policy. By integrating each pillar, the curriculum project gained valuable expertise in pedagogical techniques, ensured accurate scientific content, and introduced ethical perspectives relevant to the organ transplantation system, thereby creating more comprehensive and robust educational content compared to what an isolated team could produce. As next steps, the curriculum will be finalized and used in a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials.
Explanation/Background
During Fall 2024, several K-12 science educators were recruited to provide feedback on the materials, gauging its ability to engage students, alignment with standards, and appropriateness for various instructional contexts. ATP-Bio faculty, staff, and trainees provided feedback on learning objectives and answered questions posed to students in the unit at the Year 4 Annual Meeting (Spring 2025). All of the feedback resulted in the organization of the curriculum unit into three central questions exploring why someone might need an organ transplant, how transplantation works, and generating explanations for why so many people are waiting for a transplant.
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesotawebsite
Start Year
Biotechnology and Healthcare
Biotechnology and Healthcare
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Outcome/Accomplishment
The NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (NSF ERC) for Advanced Technologies for the Preservation of Biological Systems (NSF ATP-Bio), co-led by the University of Minnesota and the Massachusetts General Hospital, pursues advances in cryopreservation. The ATP-Bio Organ Transplant Curriculum project is a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort to design and implement an engaging middle school STEM curriculum focused on organ transplantation, allocation, and preservation. The project leverages a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) to create and disseminate this curriculum to teachers seeking to incorporate lessons about these topics. In Year 5, the project made significant advances through iterative review and revision of the curriculum.
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesotawebsite
Start Year
Biotechnology and Healthcare
Biotechnology and Healthcare
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Impact/benefits
This project integrated several ATP-Bio pillars, including Engineering Workforce Development, Convergent Research, and Ethics and Public Policy. By integrating each pillar, the curriculum project gained valuable expertise in pedagogical techniques, ensured accurate scientific content, and introduced ethical perspectives relevant to the organ transplantation system, thereby creating more comprehensive and robust educational content compared to what an isolated team could produce. As next steps, the curriculum will be finalized and used in a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials.
Explanation/Background
During Fall 2024, several K-12 science educators were recruited to provide feedback on the materials, gauging its ability to engage students, alignment with standards, and appropriateness for various instructional contexts. ATP-Bio faculty, staff, and trainees provided feedback on learning objectives and answered questions posed to students in the unit at the Year 4 Annual Meeting (Spring 2025). All of the feedback resulted in the organization of the curriculum unit into three central questions exploring why someone might need an organ transplant, how transplantation works, and generating explanations for why so many people are waiting for a transplant.