Newswise — Ericka Senegar-Mitchell and Robert Manroe, both science teachers in the Sweetwater Union High School District, looked on with pride as their students eagerly took in the intriguing anatomical sights of BODIES"¦The Exhibition at La Jolla's University Towne Center recently while interacting with their UCSD science "mentors.
"Isn't this great," beamed Manroe, science coordinator at Castle Park High School in Chula Vista. "All the things I've been trying to teach my students about cells, proteins and genes they can finally begin to see how these are connected to the real world -- to their own body systems."
Senegar-Mitchell was equally impressed. "There once was a time when exhibits like this were reserved for science and medical students from such elite institutions as Harvard, Duke and Yale," said the teacher from Junipero Serra High. "Making these displays accessible to all students in an interactive environment can only help them learn more about the human body and excite them about science.
The students mentioned above were among more than 150 other Sweetwater district high school students visiting the exhibit this month as part of BioBridge, a "hands on" science education initiative which exposes area high school students and their science teachers to cutting-edge research discovery under UCSD scientists for implementation in the district classrooms.
Building upon the success it has realized in the last two years toward this mission, BioBridge partnered with BODIES"¦The Exhibition and the Sweetwater district in sponsoring "The Amazing Human Race." The event paired Sweetwater's BioBridge students with faculty, graduate students and undergraduates in the biosciences from UCSD and elsewhere to help high school students complete "labs" at various checkpoints throughout the exhibition. More than 50 science professionals participated as lab mentors in the skeletal, musculature, respiratory, nervous, circulatory, digestive and reproductive system areas of the exhibit.
Says Jeremy Babendure, Ph.D., BioBridge director: "This event was significant in that it let high school students interested in science meet and talk to real researchers and UCSD students who are studying biology and medicine. That's how kids really start becoming excited about future careers in science."
The participating high school students seem to agree. "What I've seen here really helps me understand and appreciate how very complex the human body is," says Josue Ramos, a senior at Montgomery High who aspires to become an aerospace engineer. Adds his classmate Dianna Vazquez: "I feel that through BioBridge and this exhibit I've gotten a good head start on pre-med when I enter UC Irvine next year."
High school students participating in the BODIES event will become team leaders in their science classrooms, helping their teachers instruct other students in the science principles and concept learned through BioBridge experiences.
In addition to Sweetwater, BioBridge also involves the San Diego Unified School District, Grossmont Unified High School District and Poway Unified School District. Since the idea of the program evolved two years ago out of the laboratory of Dr. Roger Tsien at UCSD, BioBridge has trained close to 100 high school teachers in current laboratory techniques. Teachers in turn teach these methods to a cadre of their own students before such information is integrated into district science curriculum.
The program is flourishing in its current state as a science education outreach program through support from UCSD Student Educational Advancement (Student Affairs) and through funding from such sources as the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (HHMI).
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