The Education Committee and the K–12 Subcommittee encourage toxicologists to consider what they can do in their communities and their work places to encourage pursuit of science careers. National attention has been focused on the gap in some science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and toxicology can benefit from coordinated efforts at regional and national levels.
For example, the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research (NCABR) will be hosting the 2nd Bridging the Gap: Uniting North Carolina K–16 STEM Education conference October 14–15, 2013, in Raleigh, North Carolina, to bring together educators, business leaders, government officials, and others who play a role in STEM education to share ideas and resources. This is an opportunity for toxicologists in North Carolina to become more engaged in STEM activities. July 31 is the last day early bird registration rates are in effect, and poster submissions are accepted until August 30.
Last October I attended the first “Bridging the Gap” STEM conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. The speakers and attendees represented a diversity of backgrounds, including the natural and physical sciences, arts and humanities, technology, and mathematics. Tracks included Educations Research Programs, Technology, Dissemination, and Funding. For the posters, the thematic categories were K–12 STEM Initiatives, University STEM Initiatives, Industry & Community Initiatives, Best Practices in STEM Education, and Research in STEM Education. Networking and enhancing future interaction and engagement were a strong feature of the meeting.
I primarily attended the Dissemination track sessions to learn more about effective strategies to educate and engage the K–12 community, because of the potential applicability and benefit to toxicology. STEM education strives to provide a sense of relevance, and therefore, early focus on career connections is important. Speakers and presentations emphasized the need to create these connections very early in education to give students an internalized sense of purpose for exploration and discovery in science and math. One effective strategy for these career connections is the inclusion of demonstrations and experiments at local community museums. These museums are a very effective platform to teach and engage students and the public because of their social context and the public’s inherent trust of them. Unfortunately, the public has a sense of distrust with relation to scientists and their reporting on research. One area of need for dissemination in the K–12 community is the middle school grades 6 to 8. Middle school representatives attending the meeting commented at multiple sessions that there are fewer resources available and fewer targeted activities for middle school compared with elementary and high school.
This need to demonstrate applicability and relevance of information for effective dissemination was illustrated by the presentation "Haute Cuisine” by Naveen Sinha, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University. Their informal science program uses gourmet cooking to illustrate principles of heat transfer, chemical reactions, and physicochemical properties of matter. The heuristic methods used for the course engages the students and excites them about the field of physics. Application of food for teaching also is valuable for K–12 students. Dr. Melani Duffrin from East Carolina University has developed a series of education tools entitled “Foodmania” geared toward primary and secondary grades as a tool for teaching science and mathematic principles.
The SOT Education Committee and its subcommittees support several activities to help engage toxicologists with students K–16 including K–12 events and high school poster sessions in conjunction with the SOT Annual Meeting and with funding of the Domestic ToxScholar Outreach Grant to promote career visits to undergraduate campuses. As chair of the Education Committee, I encourage your participation in STEM outreach.