Curriculum

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Curriculum 

Health in Our Hands (HiOH) connects the science classroom to the community to give youth and adults an understanding of modern concepts in genetics. Designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards, HiOH curriculum uses Community-Inspired Project-Based Learning. Students investigate critical community health concerns and use these real-world contexts to appreciate the importance of both genetic and environmental factors in their risk for disease.

HiOH partners with family and community members to bring students’ cultural background and family experience into the science class as a resource and asset for learning. Biomedical research and health-related careers are introduced throughout the curricula. For their final project, students conduct an action research project to improve their school or neighborhood to help prevent or reduce disease. Students present the results and recommendations at a Youth Health Summit to their peers, family and community.

Features of HiOH curriculum:

  • NGSS-designed (Lead states, 2013) engaging learners in learning goals, which integrate disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), scientific and engineering practices (SEPs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs) to enable learners to explain phenomena or solve problems and thus improve learning. (Krajcik, J. S., Codere, S., Dahsah, C., Bayer, R., & Mun, K., 2014)
  • Project-Based Learning whereby students pursue meaningful questions about public health concerns in their community and work collaboratively and in technology-rich environments to develop authentic research findings and recommendations to improve the health of their community. (Krajcik, J. S. & Shin, N., 2014)
  • Community-Connected supporting students to present their research results at a health summit hosted and attended by community partners from health-related and community-based organizations.
  • Research-based evidence of increased motivation to learn science and sharing knowledge with family and peers (Modell, S.M., Bayer, I.S., Kardia, S.L.R., Morales, C.J., Adler, I., & Greene-Moton, E., 2023); and increased cognitive learning. (Morales, C. J., Lee, J., Bayer, I.S., manuscript in revision)

 

The curriculum can be used with appropriate citations. To realize the full potential of the curriculum, professional development and support for teachers in the classroom is highly recommended.

License: CC-BY-SA 4.0 Modifications YES, commercial use YES, sharing required YES (CC-BY-SA-4.0) This resource is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons license linked below. You may remix, tweak, and build upon this resource for non-commercial and commercial purposes, as long as you provide credit to CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University and license your new creations under identical terms.


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For more information and professional development: https://create4stem.msu.edu/contact