Giving Students a "Heads-Up"

The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston is 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," said the program’s director, Gilbert A. Castro, Ph.D., UT-Houston Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The project, Health Education and Discovering Science While Unlocking Potential, known as 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 can watch heart dissections 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.

– Shannon Rasp

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URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/08_01_02/page_20.html