===========================
                        JeffNEWS, February 21, 1995
                        ===========================


Jefferson's CGS Reaches Out to Community to Help Bring `New Science' 
to High School Curricula
--------------------------------------------------------------------

   by Georganne K. Buescher, EdD, associate dean, College of Graduate 
      Studies
   and Leonard M. Rosenfeld, PhD, assistant professor of physiology, 
      JMC/CGS

The explosive growth of biotechnology and molecular biology beginning in 
the 1980s has created a vast amount of new scientific knowledge.

What today we call the "new science" is full of concepts and new 
vocabulary unheard of just a decade ago. What were genetic secrets then are 
now unlocked, permitting our genetic and molecular knowledge to advance at 
a rapid pace from theory to practical applications. 

The "new science" is leading us along a new path - of cells, molecules 
and genes - to discover new ways to heal disease. Through technology and 
advancing knowledge, we can see and understand a submicroscopic world we 
never could before.

So rapid is this growth of scientific knowledge that not enough of it 
has reached high schools. Many high school curricula are still being taught 
without adequate emphasis on the "new science."

Fortunately, through the recent "adoption" of the Franklin Learning 
Center's Health Science Program, Jefferson's College of Graduate Studies 
(CGS) is now playing an active role in closing this gap in science 
education at the high school level.

Jefferson and Franklin educators are jointly developing plans to 
introduce one or more educational activities by next fall. These include:

   o Conducting summer and brief academic-year programs for Franklin 
     faculty at Jefferson 
   o Jefferson faculty presenting lectures and workshops at Franklin
   o Establishing a Jefferson-Franklin Summer Program for larger groups of 
     faculty, even students, to participate in classroom and laboratory 
     education at Jefferson. A long-range goal would be to establish such a 
     program as a continuing education resource for the Philadelphia School 
     System.
   o Develop a continuing information link between Jefferson and Franklin 
     with the aid of computers, whereby e-mail communication could occur 
     continuously between the two faculties.
   o Co-develop a "new science" high school curriculum as a partnership 
     effort by Jefferson and Franklin faculty.

The reason for the Jefferson initiative is simple; the faculty feel that 
we have a community obligation to pass on our knowledge to other teachers 
and, through them, to students. 

The high school students of today will be the scientists of tomorrow. 
The ultimate success of the United States in world science and technology 
rests with what students are being taught today at the elementary, middle 
and high school levels. They are the future scientists and leaders, and it 
is essential for the future that today's students benefit from today's 
knowledge. 

We must realize that learning opportunities for teachers in high schools 
are vastly different from those for faculty at universities. They have full 
teaching loads, as well as the obligation to handle and discipline larger 
class sizes.

This makes the traditional route of "in-service" training very 
difficult.

The partnership we envision between Jefferson and Franklin will open new 
lines of communication and enable teachers to get on-site and "hands-on" 
experience in scientific discovery in the laboratory. It is truly exciting, 
and the best way to get hooked on that excitement is to participate, or at 
least observe first-hand, not solely from a lecture or a book. 

Interestingly, this commitment by Jefferson is consistent with the 
philosophy of our namesake, Thomas Jefferson, who promoted public education 
because he believed that an educated electorate is essential to a strong 
democracy. As the world's science and technology become increasingly 
complex, that philosophy will become even more important.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information provided by:  Editor, JeffNEWS
                          (215) 955-6204
------------------------------------------------------------------------------