Biotech education effort under way

Providence Journal July 09, 2003

KINGSTON - The latest in science technology may be entering high schools across the state as early as this coming school year.

Twelve science teachers from around the state including 8 from Ponaganset High School met with LifeEDU director and University of Rhode Island instructor Albert Kausch to discuss ways to bring biotechnology into the classroom.

While most people know the solar system, few people understand how life works, let alone what we can do with it, said Kausch, whose nonprofit organization makes educational materials about biotechnology through the help of corporate sponsors and grants.

We have to know what we're talking about before we can discuss it.

That's why the teachers met with Kausch for a week last month not to take a workshop, but to make one, by finding a way to get biotechnology into the classrooms and discussing everything from teaching lessons to corporate sponsorship.

We've figured out what we want to do. Now, we've got to figure out how we're going to do it, said John Emin, an agricultural teacher at Ponaganset High.

Kausch said the goals of LifeEDU and the teachers he met with will produce educational materials, including CD-ROM lesson plans and Web sites for teachers and the general public.

Kausch said 60 to 70 percent of the foods at the local grocery store involve some sort of biotechnology, including genetically altered fruits and vegetables. With such a close impact, Kausch said students need to know how science is changing the world around them.

The consequence [of not knowing] is a series of controversies that surround biotechnology, he said.

That's why Kausch is trying to inform students about biotechnology, so they'll have an informed opinion about the controversial science issues of today's world.

Not only that, but the students may even find themselves liking the field, he said.

How can a child in the state know they can be a pharmacogenomicist [a person who studies the DNA of various people] if it's not taught in the classroom? Kausch said.

That's why Kausch and the teachers from the workshop are actively seeking the help of corporations and other organizations, to get their students ready for the ever-changing tomorrow.

Kausch said he is already making arrangements to work with Cornell University to get teaching materials ready for Rhode Island's science teachers.

Cornell is the hub of the agribiotechnical world, Kaush said. They've got their fingers on everything. I think this is a really good opportunity to work with them.

But even after the materials are prepared, one of the obstacles Kausch and the teachers will have to face is to actually implement the materials into the classroom.

In a way people don't want to address this, Kausch said. The curriculum is already full. Where do you stick this in?

Emin said biotechnology should be taught in a number of subject areas, not just science. It would mean the school would implement a core curriculum, where students could learn about genetically- altered foods in a science class and debate about cloning in an English class.

At Ponaganset one department doesn't know what the other is doing, Emin said. We don't interact as much as we should.

It's a part of all aspects, Kausch said, ...reading, math, science, and it's in our culture. To consider it that way makes it more significant.

Kausch said, so far, he and the volunteers at LifeEDU have received a lot of encouragement to keep their mission going. But what they need, Kausch said, is funding.

Those of us who have been volunteering have been putting one foot in front of the other at a time, Kausch said. Now we need a more concentrated effort. We've matured it so we can go out and seek funding.

We have ethicists, scientists, government [officials] that are all saying the same thing. They all say we need more biology. And we need more biotechnology for sure.

After last month's workshop, the teachers went off to prepare the lesson plans for the new materials, and Kausch is now going around, trying to get corporate sponsors and grants. He said companies may be persuaded to sponsor because of the benefits they could reap from such a program.

For one, Kausch said, companies may be inclined to invest in LifeEDU's mission because it is a nonprofit organization.

Emin said companies that will need well-trained employees in the future would be wise to help educate students now.

The end result would be to train the students in the field and get them excited about it, Emin said.

With companies like Dow and AmGen growing in the state, we have to create a work force that will be sustained in Rhode Island, or the people [who are trained in biotechnology] will leave and the companies will go with them, Kausch said. It has to start with education in the state.

Emin said he is confident that the financial support will come and that high school students across the state will be learning about one of the world's most advanced scientific fields in a matter of months.

You go to the right people, you get the right keys and things will happen, Emin said.

You've got to have that hope. You've got to have that faith. And I'm not into astrology, but the stars have got to be right. The stars are right for this one.