July 21, 1999
UW receives $500,000 to help schools teach genetics at all grade levels
Students at all grade levels will be the beneficiaries of a $500,000 grant to the University of Washington School of Medicine from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The four-year award, one of 35 announced this week by HHMI, will assist the UW Department of Molecular Biotechnology in enriching science education in local schools and help attract a broad range of students to biomedical careers.
More than 200 biomedical research institutions competed for the awards. The UW was one of only two across the country to receive the maximum amount awarded by HHMI, which distributed $12.7 million in amounts ranging from $225,000 to $500,000.
At the UW, the grant will fund a project called GENETICS: Genetics Education Networks to Enhance Networks to Enhance Teaching and Improve Curricula in Science.
“The goal of the GENETICS project is to help schools throughout the state teach genetics in an age-appropriate way at all grade levels,” said Maureen Munn, director of the High School Human Genome Project in the Department of Molecular Biotechnology. “The project addresses a pressing need to prepare tomorrow’s citizens to make rational, informed decisions related to a growing avalanche of genetics-related discoveries, many of which have significant ethical, legal and societal implications.
“The understanding of how DNA functions as the information molecule of living organisms is one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century,” said Munn. “The rapidly developing technologies for studying and manipulating DNA are applied in medical genetics, all fields of biology, and the biotechnology industry.”
The project’s goals are to:
o Develop an K-12 curriculum framework for effective teaching of fundamental genetics and allied life science concepts built around the state’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements.
o Create a set of high school instructional modules on genetics.
o Foster regional implementation through professional development for teachers in K-12 clusters of schools in the Seattle and Northshore School Districts. In the Seattle School District, pilot schools are Roosevelt and Nathan Hale High Schools, Eckstein Middle School, and elementary schools involved in the existing Partnership for Inquiry-Based Science K-5.
o Cultivate a statewide network of genetics learning communities through a telecommunications/distance learning network, including web page, electronic bulletin board and moderated list-server.
“GENETICS will enhance standards-based genetics teaching and improve genetics learning at multiple sites throughout Washington state,” said Munn. “By modeling and fostering such best practices, GENETICS will set the stage for broad systemic reform of life-science teaching. The program will show how genetics is the key to understanding processes such as reproduction, growth and development, diversity of species, response of organisms to the environment, evolution, etc., reinforcing the unifying role of genetics in biology. It will also focus on ethical, legal and social issues.”
The UW Department of Molecular Biotechnology was founded in 1991 with a $12 million grant from Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. The founding chairman is Dr. Leroy Hood. Science education outreach has been an essential goal of the department since its founding.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a medical research organization that employs scientists in cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience and structural biology. HHMI laboratories are located at 71 academic medical centers and universities nationwide, including the University of Washington.
These grants bring to $23 million the total awarded by HHMI since 1994 through this precollege science education initiative. More information is available at www.hhmi.org/precollege99.
