Making Connections: Expanding Our Web

Grant #: RR09840-08

Principal Investigator: Susanna Cunningham, Ph.D
E-mail: susannac@u.washington.edu

Director: Trez Buckland, M.Ed.
Project Site: School of Nursing, Box 357266, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7266
Phone: 206-616-9447
E-mail: trezbuck@u.washington.edu

Web Site: http://www.son.washington.edu/centers/MakingConnections/

Summary of Project

The Making Connections: Expanding Our Web partnership is a powerful and productive science education outreach group that expands the dissemination and partnerships established in the previous Making Connections, Making Choices program. It consists of the University of Washington School of Nursing, Pacific Science Center, Group Health Cooperative and the Washington Association for Biomedical Research as well as more than 100 NIH funded scientists and other professionals. It has reached over 80,000 students, 35,000 members of the general public and 6,800 teachers in Washington, Idaho and Montana.It has developed three primary educational components that work synergistically to serve teachers, students and the public. These components - The Brain Power Van, the Making Connections, Celebrating the Decade of the Brain summer institute and the Bioscientists in the Community and the Classroom outreach component - have been disseminated with great success. The Brain Power Van travels to middle schools with an interactive assembly, exhibits (over 25) and curricula to teach about the brain. The summer institute brings science and health teachers as well as museum educators and school administrators to the University of Washington for two weeks each summer. Here they learn about cutting edge research related to the brain, adolescents and mental illness and other brain disorders, and innovative curricula. The Speakers' Bureau provides scientists to come into the classrooms and communities of those who request them to further enhance the public undertanding of the brain.

Publications

  1. Cunningham. S.L. & Kunselman, M.M. (1995) Making Connections: A Science Education Partnership. Washington Science Teachers' Journal, 35:17-19.

  2. Cunningham, S.G. & Kunselmann, M.M. (1999) University of Washington and Partners' Program to Teach Middle School Students about Neuroscience and Science Careers. Academic Medicine 74:318-321.

  3. Cunningham, S., Kunselman, M. M., Schatz, D., Beery, W., Adler, S., Buckland, H. & Williamson, J. (1999) Recruiting the next generation of nurse researchers. Communicating Nursing Research 7:210.

Presentations

  1. Sixth Annual Idaho Prevention Conference, Sun Valley Idaho, April 22-23, 1999, Roundtable presentations.

  2. Montana Educators Association Convention, Missoula, Montana, October20-22, 1999 - Keynote speech at Science Awards Luncheon and hospitality room.

  3. Washington State Science Teachers' Association Convention, Spokane, Washington, October 28 and 29, 1999. Half day workshop.

Materials

  1. Brain Power Curriculum Packet ($9.00) and Riskier Business Game ($4.00) plus $3.00 shipping and handling per item. Please make checks payable to Pacific Science Center and send to: Brain Power Program c/o Group Health Cooperative/Pacific Science Center, 200 Second Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109-4895. Phone: 206-443-2851, Fax: 206-443-3621 E-mail: brain_power@pacsci.org
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