Dallas High Schools Science Education Program Will Get Boost from $750,000 Grant

Dallas high schools have been given a huge boost to improve and expand the science education for high school students. In a recent press release, UT Southwestern Medical Center announced that they have received a $750,000 grant to fund additional science education for biology teachers in 12 Dallas high schools and "Science Suitcases" for other Dallas schools.

UT wants to target high school biology teachers that want to improve their skills in teaching biology, and help them develop and maintain advanced placement biology classes.

To help accomplish this, a new science program has been developed named the "STARS Science Triathlon." This program will allow selected high school biology teachers to get hands-on training at UT Southwestern during the summer, attend symposia, and other activities that are held during the school year. The selected educators will also be able to attend an eight-week research program at UT Southwestern the following summer.

Initially, five teachers will be selected during the first year of operation, and 10 biology teachers will be selected to participate in this program every year thereafter. The training programs will begin in summer 20008.

Even though this program will begin with five high school biology teachers, and will be expanded to 10, the ultimate goal is to expand it to a total of 45 high school biology teachers over the course of its life. If each of these 45 teachers influenced 150 biology students in their high school, within a decade they would reach approximately 70,000 high school students.

In addition to this training, graduate students at UT Southwestern will help develop "Science Suitcases" for other high school biology classes. The "science suitcases" will provide interactive exhibits, and portable laboratories for biology students in high school.

Science suitcases will serve to expose science students to chemistry, biochemistry, membranes, enzymes, cell respiration, photosynthesis, and organelles. Lab equipment, posters, 3-D models, videos, and manuals are some of the many things that will be included in the suitcases.