These stories highlight the impact College of Medicine science and health outreach programs are having on school children and their teachers throughout Pennsylvania and beyond.
“If we can get kids doing experiments and learning by discovery when they are young, they will see that science is fun and doable,” Dr. Keith Verner, chief of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning in the College of Medicine, said. “That’s why our outreach programs are aimed at hands-on science that gets kids excited. We start with 5-year-olds and even younger, because it’s important to instill an interest in science at an early age — before any gender prejudices develop.”
Verner takes the same approach toward teaching children about health.
Because many lifetime attitudes and behaviors related to health are formed during the early years of child development, it is important to make learning about health fun for children, he said. If learning about health is enjoyable, we hope children will be more likely to develop healthy behaviors, he added.
Penn State is honoring Verner with the 2001 Award for Faculty Outreach for his pioneering outreach programs that each year reach thousands of children, teachers and parents in Pennsylvania and other states.
Verner’s outreach initiatives are strongly supported by Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, senior vice president for health affairs, dean of the College of Medicine and chief executive officer of The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
“The outreach programs developed and implemented under Dr. Verner’s direction are providing opportunities to foster cutting-edge interdisciplinary research that can be translated into outreach efforts that can help solve critical challenges faced by children,” Kirch said. He added that the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning, which Verner heads, “is dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge through research, education, patient care and community outreach for the enhancement of children’s development, education and learning.”
Dr. James H. Ryan, vice president for Outreach and Cooperative Extension, praised Verner for his innovative outreach initiatives for both children and teachers, noting, “Dr. Verner’s outreach activities exemplify the very best kind of outreach — programming that improves the quality of life for participants. This pioneering work makes
Dr. Verner a very deserving recipient of the 2001 Penn State Award for Faculty Outreach. By focusing on educating children about health and science, these programs not only have an immediate influence on children, but also a long-term impact, because the knowledge gained can lead to the adoption of lifelong healthy habits. And Dr. Verner’s efforts to share discoveries in brain research with teachers has vast potential to enhance the classroom learning environment.”
There are four sections within the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning: the Center for Science and Health Education, Biology of Learning and Development, Educational Technology, and Clinical Developmental Pediatrics.
Verner established his largest outreach program, Elementary School Science Centers, part of the Center for Science and Health Education, in 1993 to improve science and health education in public schools. A researcher in cellular and molecular physiology at the Hershey Medical Center at that time, he became interested in working with children as a result of his experiences with his local school board.
“Being so intimately involved with public education as an elected school board member, I started to see the tremendous impact education has on children and what a big part of their lives education is,” Verner said.
From that point, he began planning programs to assist teachers with science and health education. With seed money from the College of Medicine, he developed the first Elementary School Science Centers in school districts in the Hershey, Pa., area.
This outreach program has continued to grow and expand, thanks to additional support from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Whitaker Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
Today, there are 31 Elementary School Science Centers in 21 school districts in 12 counties around the state. The centers are located in urban, suburban and rural school districts and reach more than 23,000 kindergarten through sixth-grade students from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as more than 1,300 K–6 teachers.
This spring, he is expanding the program internationally by establishing an Elementary School Science Center in Guayaquil, Ecuador, as part of the Penn State Children’s Hospital international outreach program. Verner first traveled to Ecuador last fall with a group of Hershey Medical Center pediatric cardiologists who were on a mission to treat children with severe heart problems. According to Verner, teaching Ecuadorian children about health has the potential to improve the quality of life of children and their families by giving them knowledge that will help prevent health problems from developing. Many Ecuadorians have no health insurance and only limited access to medical care.
In Pennsylvania, each Elementary School Science Center is located in an elementary school classroom. The science centers are equipped with laboratory benches and stools and durable supplies, including lab coats, microscopes, anatomical models, weighing and measuring devices and the supplies needed for teaching both biological and physical science. The labs can accommodate a teacher and 30 students working in one large group or in small groups, pairs or individually.
The science centers focus on areas that provide support and guidance to school districts involved in improving the performance of their students. College of Medicine faculty and staff members conduct teacher in-service sessions, as well.
Another important aspect of the program is the grade-level appropriate Science Activity Modules teachers use in the labs. Module topics include: five senses, solids and liquids, weather, safety, weight and balance, experimenting with water, rocks and soils, personal health, sound, body systems, the water cycle, sun protection, electricity, magnification, chemistry, nutrition, machines and force, properties of heat, energy sources, tobacco/alcohol, microscopy, compounds and chemistry, density, and physical fitness.
A key component of the Elementary School Science Center laboratories is the lab coat that all students wear in the labs. The lab coats are identical to those worn by Hershey Medical Center physicians and staff and are meant to get the children excited about science.
“The lab coats aren’t for protection,” Verner explained, “because there are no dangerous chemicals involved in the science experiments the children perform. The coats are a way of getting the children to focus on science.”
For one third-grader, wearing the lab coat just may have inspired her to become a doctor. Verner, who met the student while visiting an Elementary School Science Center, is convinced she will become a doctor. For the introverted student who blossomed in the science lab, the lab coat and the in-school lab reinforce the value of such programs, he noted.
A 1997 survey found 93 percent of 848 fifth-graders said they liked going to their Elementary School Science Center, Verner said.
“Teaching children at an early age about health will ultimately make them better patients,” he said. “Physicians want their patients to understand something about the science of health, so they will know when they are sick. Physicians also want their patients to ask good questions and contribute to their own health care. There is a tremendous amount of health information available on the Internet today — information on nutrition, exercise, safety, etc. We want children to grow up to be able to weed through this mass of material and decide what is scientific and reliable and what is not. I see this as a critical mission of our outreach programs.”
In addition to establishing science centers, the Center for Science and Health Education is involved with many other outreach activities, including:
 | Middle School Symposium — Each year, about 120 middle school students participate in a one-day symposium at the Hershey Medical Center. Verner talks to them about topics related to what they are studying in class and shows them slides of some of the diseases Hershey Medical Center faculty members are researching. The students also tour hospital and college research labs and meet with faculty researchers. |
| High school internships — There are several internship programs open to high school students during the school year and during the summer. The programs offer students a school-career experience. |
| High school mentor program — This program engages students in paid research internships to work in College of Medicine and Hershey Medical Center labs. |
| Family Health Nights — Elementary school students and their parents learn important health concepts by performing experiments in their school’s Elementary School Science Center, under the guidance of a College of Medicine faculty or staff member. During an evaluation of pre- and post-tests of a Family Health Night on Nutrition for fourth-graders and their families, researchers found the one-hour hands-on program had a significant impact on participants’ knowledge of nutrition. |
| ExpertLink© — This Internet-published and copyrighted software enables individuals to ask and answer questions through the Internet. ExpertLink© is used to help the development of educational partnerships among K–12 educators, higher education institutions and businesses. |
| LabLion newsletter — This quarterly publication discusses current trends in science, health, technology education and school district-community relations. The newsletter is distributed to public school professionals throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. |
| K–12 lesson plans — With research and development funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Center for Science and Health Education has produced a series of lesson plans for science educators and lesson plans and resources for K–12 educators who are responsible for meeting the Pennsylvania Science and Technology Education Standards. These materials are available to teachers on the Internet. |
| Videos — Science, It’s Elementary, a documentary on the Elementary School Science Center program, and the Governor’s Institute for Life Science Educators, a documentary on the first Governor’s Institute, have been produced and are being used to market the programs and generate funding for future outreach initiatives. The video Governor’s Institute for Life Science Educators has been awarded both the 2000 Telly Award and the Crystal Communicator Award. |
The Center for Science and Health Education also emphasizes professional development programs to help teachers teach science.
“Sometimes, elementary school teachers don’t feel comfortable with science and, as a result, won’t spend much time teaching it,” Verner said. “In our outreach programs for teachers, we devote a great deal of effort to making teachers comfortable with teaching science. We provide them with the content and pedagogical approaches they need to teach science in innovative ways.”
Supporting the link between scientific research and practical application in the classroom is the Biology of Learning and Development (BOLD) component of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning. Verner has put together a cross-University group of faculty members interested in the biological basis of learning. The group includes faculty from the departments of Pediatrics, Radiology, Neurology, Neuroscience and Anatomy, Psychology, and Behavioral Sciences and Education, as well as representatives from the public school community.
BOLD members are studying the biology of the human brain and how new ideas in brain science can be translated into classroom science. They are applying cutting-edge findings in neuroscience and neuroimaging to research efforts in areas such as cognitive development, reading processes, behavioral studies and curriculum development, Verner said.
K–12 teachers are benefiting from BOLD faculty members’ research discoveries and knowledge through Brain Research and Classroom Practice in-service programs. Teachers attending these hands-on programs investigate how brain structure and function relate to their classroom experiences. The programs provide teachers with a deeper understanding of how brain research can be used to develop effective classroom practices.
A related professional development program for K–12 teachers is the Pennsylvania Governor’s Institute for Life Science Educators. Since its inception in 1999, 130 teachers have attended the weeklong summer program. During 2000, 80 teachers attended the institute. When asked to rate the value of the program on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating, 100 percent of the elementary school teachers rated the institute at 5; 62 percent of middle school teachers rated the institute at 5; and 89 percent of high school teachers rated the program at 5. The next Governor’s Institute is planned for June. Activities will include anatomy, neurobiology, cell, molecular and computer labs, guest speakers, hospital tours and teacher projects.
“The Governor’s Institute for Life Science Educators that Dr. Verner created and directed over the past two summers ranks as one of the most successful professional development programs in Pennsylvania,” Dr. Michael B. Poliakoff, executive director of the American Academy for Liberal Education and former deputy secretary of education for Pennsylvania, said. “[The institute] is a paradigm of the proper union of pedagogy and subject area expertise and an outstanding example of the partnership of higher education and K–12 education.”
Verner explained the underlying theme of the Governor’s Institute is neurobiology.
“We look at the brain as an organ; we look at the spinal cord and the nervous system as it reaches throughout the body; and we look at neurons and neuropeptides,” he said. “We want teachers to integrate their understanding of the brain and apply it to how their students learn. We spend an entire day talking about teaching approaches and their relationship to brain studies.”
A biology teacher whose student participated in a summer internship program at the Hershey Medical Center later attended the Governor’s Institute. The teacher was inspired by his student’s internship activities and his own experiences at the Governor’s Institute to conduct a research project. The teacher wrote a successful grant proposal to do research on middle and high school students, and soon he and three of his students will be researching the autonomic nervous system influence on cognitive and decision-making processes. “I’m absolutely delighted to see these kinds of impacts of our outreach programs,” Verner said.
Another component of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning is Educational Technology. This unit is a technology-centered research unit focused on the creation, implementation and assessment of distance learning and Internet-based education projects. Its Web site is www.lablion.org.
“In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, we developed a Web site to help teachers with Pennsylvania Science and Technology Standards,” Verner said.
The newest component of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning is Clinical Developmental Pediatrics.
“We believe there is a real need for this service and a real need for research in this area,” he said. “We are also trying to bring together the pediatricians who work with children and the researchers who are studying pediatric conditions. We have one developmental pediatrician in the division and a second position, partially funded through Penn State’s Children, Youth and Families Consortium, will be filled shortly.”
Verner joined the College of Medicine as an assistant professor of cellular and molecular physiology in 1988, following a three-year postdoctoral position in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Basel in Switzerland. He earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Wayne State University in 1977 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology from Cornell University in 1985.
At Penn State’s College of Medicine, he is associate professor of pediatrics and cellular and molecular physiology. He also is associate professor of education in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education at Penn State Harrisburg. From 1993 to 1998, he was director of Public Science and Health Education Programs. In 1998, the Center for Science and Health Education was created to accommodate the expansion of Verner’s outreach programs, and he was appointed director. In 2000, the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and Learning was formed, and Verner was named chief of the division.
Verner noted that the division has a full-time staff of eight, plus two full-time certified teachers, as well as another seven to eight faculty members who have joint appointments in the division. In addition, 50 to 90 Hershey Medical Center faculty and staff volunteer to help with the division’s outreach programs every year. Verner also works with about three dozen K–12 teachers annually. They serve as consultants for the division’s outreach programs.
“This is truly an enterprise that couldn’t happen without many people from Penn State and the local community,” Verner said.
“We have so many volunteers,” he added. “The best of our faculty volunteer. These are some of the busiest people in this building; yet they find time to participate. Their willingness to participate in outreach programs makes me really appreciate the people I work with.”
The Center for Science and Health Education’s outreach programs benefit everyone involved — the children, teachers and parents who participate in the programs, as well as the faculty and staff members who volunteer their time, Verner said.
“Our programs are aligned with the College of Medicine’s fourfold mission of patient care, research, education and community service. At the local level, in central Pennsylvania, our outreach programs let people know who we really are. These programs put a human face on the College of Medicine and the Hershey Medical Center.”
Verner appreciates the broad support and recognition his outreach initiatives receive at the college and University levels.
“President Spanier has made it very clear that Penn State values outreach and that outreach is central and critical to the University’s mission,” Verner said. “And Dean Kirch has demonstrated his support for our educational outreach programs. We wouldn’t be able to develop and deliver our outreach programming without this University-wide commitment to outreach.”
