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A day of immersive physiology experiments increases knowledge and excitement towards physiology and scientific careers in Native American students
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- American Physiological Society, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Underserved minority groups are disproportionately absent from the pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. One such underserved population, Native Americans, are particularly underrepresented in STEM fields. Although recent advocacy and outreach designed toward increasing minority involvement in health care-related occupations have been mostly successful, little is known about the efficacy of outreach programs in increasing minority enthusiasm toward careers in traditional scientific professions. Furthermore, very little is known about outreach among Native American schools toward increasing involvement in STEM. We collaborated with tribal middle and high schools in South Dakota and Nebraska through a National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award to hold a day-long physiology, activity-based event to increase both understanding of physiology and enthusiasm to scientific careers. We recruited volunteer biomedical scientists and trainees from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and University of South Dakota. To evaluate the effectiveness of the day of activities, 224 of the ~275–300 participating students completed both a pre- and postevent evaluation assessment. We observed increases in both students self-perceived knowledge of physiology and enthusiasm toward scientific career opportunities after the day of outreach activities. We conclude that activity-based learning opportunities in underserved populations are effective in increasing both knowledge of science and interest in scientific careers.
- Subjects :
- Male
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
020205 medical informatics
Adolescent
Physiology
education
02 engineering and technology
Education
Underserved Population
Pedagogy
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
Medicine
Humans
Program Development
Students
health care economics and organizations
Schools
Career Choice
business.industry
Native american
05 social sciences
050301 education
Nebraska
General Medicine
Problem-Based Learning
Outreach
How We Teach
South Dakota
Indians, North American
Female
business
0503 education
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....954059a5b30d07c555cd26c0760e49b2