Think of it as the “Little Poster Session That Could!” The official count was eight posters in a sea of 2,700 presentations at the 2013 SOT Annual Meeting; however, as chair of the Education Poster session I know the enthusiasm and impact will be far greater than that small number represents.
“The poster session was well attended with foot traffic and lively conversation. There was a mix of educational issues, including K–12 projects, outreach, and teaching strategies. Authors with whom I spoke expressed interest in participation in the undergraduate education mission, including investigating issues of pedagogy and involvement of college programs in toxicology,” summarized Teresa Dodd-Butera, the poster session lead for the SOT Undergraduate Education Subcommittee and Assistant Professor at California State University, San Bernardino.
Ideally situated in the middle of ToxExpo, there was a constant stream of toxicology educators and researchers exchanging ideas on the best ways to introduce toxicology principles from kindergarten to upper division undergraduate courses.
Poster presenters came from New York to California and from the Deep South to the heart of the Midwest. Clever outreach ideas included the board game “Escape from Toxic Island” developed for the Mid-Atlantic SOT Regional Chapter and presented by Diane Hardej of St. John’s University. There was a poster on developing a risk assessment capstone project for seniors in toxicology, information on how to build a summer undergraduate research program, a great dose-response lab using C. elegans, and methods for introducing toxicology into an undergraduate nursing curriculum.
The best part about sharing your ideas was the feedback and new information gained from colleagues who stopped by the poster session. While presenting a poster on a new environmental toxicology course I developed at Northern Kentucky University, I learned about the US Environmental Protection Agency’s BenMap software and how it’s being used at an Ohio college to teach toxicology to undergraduates. What a great idea! Let’s hope it turns into a future poster presentation.
The SOT Education Committee wants to encourage more faculty and toxicology educators to present at the 2014 Annual Meeting. But you don’t have to wait until next March. The Undergraduate Education Subcommittee welcomes submission of teaching materials online. When the collection builds, you soon will be able to search the resource library.
Whether it’s an interesting way to tackle a hot topic in toxicology, a new lab, or new way to engage K–12 students, education is at the center of what we do to protect public health. The more we share…the more we grow.