HEADS-UP

http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/chppr/headsup/

http://lib200.library.tmc.edu/headsup/

http://theleader.uthouston.edu/archive/2002/june/spring_branch.html

http://www.uthouston.edu/distinctions/archive/2002/august/heads_up.html

Students from Spring Branch Independent School District view a sheep heart dissection at the John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science as part of a taping of instructional films that will be used in their school district to teach science and health and to educate children about careers in these fields. The children are joined by, far right, Adam Benjamin, dissection program coordinator for the museum, and William A. Weems, Ph.D., second from right, UT-Houston's assistant vice president for academic computing and professor of integrative biology and pharmacology at the Medical School. Photo by Shannon Rasp

Public Health at Houston is working now toward implementing an innovative science curriculum for students at Spring Branch Independent School District's middle schools this fall. The program, designed by and featuring UT-Houston faculty in interactive video presentations, aims to educate children about science not only as a discipline, but also as a career.

"This is a really exciting program, and we are looking forward to its unveiling this fall," said UT-Houston Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Gilbert A. Castro, Ph.D., the program's director.

The project, Health Education and Discovering Science while Unlocking Potential (HEADS-UP), uses computer and video technology to increase middle school students' proficiency in science and math while at the same time encouraging their interest and confidence in pursuing careers in these two fields. UT-Houston faculty will be taped conducting research, teaching classes and delivering lectures on selected topics. Children will tour lab facilities via CD-ROM, and students can also watch a heart dissection and other medically oriented demonstrations.

Castro is also planning to offer the curriculum to middle school children in the Hidalgo, Mission and Lajoya Independent School Districts in the Rio Grande Valley.

The HEADS-UP program was made possible by a grant of more than $860,000 from the National Center for Research Resources, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

--By Shannon Rasp, Public Affairs