Tag Archives: university-community partnerships

Increasing Contact to Scientists and Science-related Careers through PhUn Week Activities

My first exposure to teaching physiology and demonstrating physiological principles through demonstrations was during my undergraduate years serving as a teaching assistant in the human physiology laboratory. It was through these experiences that I discovered a love for teaching physiology through the use of demonstrations. As such, I was thrilled to discover the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s involvement in PhUn week when I started my time there as a graduate student. PhUn week had been a part of our department’s outreach program for a few years before I arrived and consisted of faculty and trainees visiting local area schools and engaging students with activities mainly focused on cardiovascular physiology. I was very happy to join a team of excited scientists dedicated to sharing the wonder of physiology.

A few years later my lab mate, Alicia Schiller, and I were approached by a program on campus that provided science outreach opportunities to nearby Native American tribes inquiring if we would be interested in adapting PhUn week activities into their day-long outreach program. We agreed to recruit volunteers and adapt our activities in order to fit this program and began work on this new endeavor.

We were expected to have approximately 300 middle and high school Native American students present that day so the first necessary task was to begin recruiting help from volunteers. We received quite the impressive response from throughout the Nebraska Physiological Society network (which includes campuses in Omaha; Lincoln; and Vermillion, SD) of faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates; 20 in total. Through this we learned that help for education activities is out there and that many people are willing to respond to the call for help.

We then set out to develop the materials and activities we would need for the day of activities, which we were now calling “PhUn Day.” We collected many of the tried and true demonstrations and hands-on activities we had used in previous PhUn week experiences for this age group and also developed a few novel activities. In final, we had nine different activities to be presented at different stations. These included:

  • Heart Rate Changes and Heart Sounds
  • Lung Capacity and Respiration
  • Digestion (Poop Lab)
  • Temperature Sensing/Muscles
  • Eye Dissection (High School only)
  • Diving Reflex
  • Owl Pellet Dissection (Middle School only)
  • Nerves and Reflexes
  • Special Senses/Dermatome Mapping

We also developed a tenth station called, “What Does a Scientist Look Like?” designed to provide participants with an informal encounter with one or more of our volunteers where they could ask questions related to what the daily life of a scientist is like, what kind of education is needed to go into science, and what kind of jobs can you get as a scientist. We’ve found through our previous PhUn week involvements that these times set aside to allow students to freely ask questions about the normal, daily life of our faculty and trainees are some of the most rewarding and fruitful times we spend with students. We wanted to provide a similar encounter for each of our 300 attendees during this event.

We collected all of our demonstrations and background information into a booklet, which is now freely available online at the Nebraska Physiological Society Outreach Website. Because this was also a unique opportunity for us to collect data on the usefulness and attitudes toward these types of demonstrations and events, we developed two surveys. One survey given before the event would serve as a baseline measure of students’ understanding of physiology and attitudes toward scientific careers. The second, paired survey given after the event was to provide data on the ability of the event to change these factors. One thing we learned throughout this experience was how time consuming and demanding preparing for an event like this could be. We owe an immense debt of gratitude to all of our volunteers and affiliated staff members that assisted us in preparing for this event. Science is very much a team effort and so are events and activities such as these.

The evening before the event we gathered our volunteers together at the site and held an “orientation” of sorts. We divided up the stations among the group and provided time for the volunteers to acquaint themselves with the material and do a dry run of the activity. Because many of our volunteers had not done a PhUn week before or because they were doing a novel activity, we knew that this orientation time would be integral to the success of the event. It also served as an opportunity for bonding among the volunteers, many of whom were from different campuses.

 

The day of the event was a whirlwind of activity. Students filled the room and rotated through the stations, talking with the volunteers and asking scores of questions along the way. We’ve always been curious if our PhUn week endeavors have an impact on the kids we’re interacting with, and because we took survey evaluations before and after the event, this time we were able to measure our impact. Through the day’s activities and interactions we significantly increased students’ understanding of physiology and their interest in scientific careers. What was most striking about the impact was that half of students who initially stated that they were unsure about their interest in scientific careers before the event changed to being interested in scientific careers after the event. We’ve recently published the results of our surveys in AJP Advances in Physiological Education.

We think that this may be one of the largest impacts that events like PhUn week have, in reaching students who have little exposure to scientific careers and the scientists who work in them. These type of events provide that exposure and contact, particularly in demographics where students may have little opportunity to interact with scientists and observe career opportunities in physiology through channels readily available to them. We don’t know for sure if these students who increased their excitement toward science and scientific careers will continue to be interested and start a pursuit towards those careers, but events such as PhUn week help provide the beginning steps towards potential interest. We were encouraged by our data as it suggested that these events and connections do have a meaningful impact in student’s understanding and interest in physiology. Hopefully we can someday consider some of the students we reach through these events as colleagues.

Bryan Becker is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he studies neuronal control of blood pressure and cardio-renal function. Bryan has been involved in PhUn week activities since 2011 as a graduate student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Bryan is also a current member of the Careers Opportunities in Physiology Committee with the APS and is interested in how events such as PhUn week and other educational outreach activities increase students’ interest in STEM fields.
Spartans Stand Together in Service – MSU PhUn Day

Michigan State University (MSU) continuously strives to fulfill its mission of making a positive difference, both locally and globally, through educational tools. Thus, a large-scale community engagement project such as PhUn Day, not only helps tie MSU to a national outreach initiative in physiology put forth by the APS but also is an important tool for enriching local communities and promoting broader ideals among students. Each year, the event gains momentum and it becomes increasingly important for the outreach coordinators to strategically organize and plan to ensure that this is truly an experience that helps students reinforce physiological concepts while inspiring them to become dynamic citizen leaders.  This year’s event is the 5th annual PhUn Day, which was held at Impression 5 Science Center (Lansing, MI) on Saturday November 5th, 2016. This event required 133 volunteers to operate 16 different stations and attracted over 900 attendees.

 

 I. Campus Involvement

An underlying goal of our PhUn Day, aided by the magnitude of the event, is to demonstrate professionalism to our student body. By implementing institution-wide teamwork, we sought to model and inspire dynamic professional skill-building to our students, include all individuals on campus with skills to offer and use educational tools to make a positive difference in our local community.

The past 5 years enabled us to build a diverse network of backgrounds and units across the entire 15-mile campus to support and sustain the event:

 1.  The Physiology Department:

  • Funded supplies
  • Rented larger technology items
    • Laptops
    • Cameras

2.  Faculty, staff, retirees, and students:

  • One faculty member/one staff member designated as volunteer outreach coordinators
  • Formed planning committee across multiple position types
  • Packed PhUn bags (APS backpacks)
    • Reserved department conference room
    • Filled bags with crayons, handouts, APS career trading cards, etc.
    • Open house packing format – individuals contributed for short/long periods of time
  • Loaded and transported supplies to the venue
  • Volunteered at the event
  • Advertised the event via flyers, social media, listservs and word of mouth within/outside of campus

3.  Research faculty:

  • Donated common research-related items
    • Test tubes – DNA activity
    • Microcentrifuge tubes – blood/immunity activity
  • Collected cardboard boxes from lab shipments for transportation of materials
  • Offered expertise
    • Volunteered at stations related to their research
    • Created supplementary activities based on familiarity with topics

4. Teaching faculty and academic advisor:

  • Primary recruiters of undergraduate volunteers via class email lists and close-knit relationships
  • Incorporated service learning into the classroom
    • Extra credit
    • Honors’ Option credit for crafting a new outreach activity
    • Department/laboratory course resources provided (scissors, glue, posters, etc.)

5. Teams from undergraduate clubs and societies volunteered:

  • Biochemistry Club, Human Biology Club, Neuroscience Club, Physiology Society, Pre-Medicine Club and Pre-Physician Assistant Club.
  • Clubs offered points for participation
  • Club volunteers encouraged to wear t-shirts promoting their organization

6.  Graduate students and societies:

  • The Physiology department, other related colleges and the American Physician Scientists Association
  • Acted as station leaders
    • Research interests aligned with station
    • Gained experience
      • Practical application of course information
      • Taught a general audience
      • Mentored, oversaw and worked together with their team

7.  The MSU College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine:

  • Lent anatomical models for display
  • Generated unique videos that illustrated physiological events using advanced equipment (MRI or ultrasound)

8.  Departments from other colleges:

  • Division of Histology explored cells, tissues and microscopy
  • Neuroscience program facilitated nerve stimulation and mediated handling of brains
  • Social Science collected data for research regarding gender differences involved in student interactions and responsiveness

9.  Advertising campaigns:

  • MSU newspaper/radio broadcast across the entire campus whereas flyers alone would be limited

10.  The MSU Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement (CSLCE)

  • Provided bus tokens to volunteers for transportation (venue off-campus)
  • Advertised to individuals seeking service opportunities

II. Shifts/Coordination of Volunteers

Shifts were divided into full (9:30am-4:30pm) or half (morning: 9:30am-1:00pm, afternoon: 12:30-4:30pm) days. A slight overlap of time between shifts accounted for late arrivals. A Google Spreadsheet link was circulated via email and volunteers signed up on their own. Many chose to work a full day but split shifts between two different stations. Each station required one team leader and 3-10 volunteers, based on difficulty of the tasks performed.

One month prior to the event, team leaders met with the outreach coordinators to familiarize themselves with the materials and activities. For more difficult activities, additional volunteer training sessions could be needed beforehand. Two weeks in advance, all volunteers attended a training by the venue to receive facility rules and tips for interacting with children.

III.  Stations

Topic

Station Title

Description
Careers What’s A Physiologist? Welcome/Exit station

Introduction to careers in physiology
Animal Physiology How do you keep warm? Compare mammalian insulation methods using plastic bags in cold water that were empty or filled with feathers/Crisco (“fat”)
Medicine You’re the Doctor! Explore equipment (stethoscopes, BP cuffs, tendon hammers, lab coats, etc.) and how they are used in practice
Artery Assessment How Does Your Blood Flow? (Healthy Heart Race) Race through arteries, observe impacts of atherosclerosis using a blood flow model of gallon jugs, red-colored water and a two-way valve
Cell Physiology Discovering DNA Practice DNA extraction using strawberries
Muscle Muscle Mania! Measure strength using PowerLab hardware, a grip force transducer and LabChart software
Breathing How “Full of Hot Air” are you? Investigation of lung models and volume measurements using tubs of water, gallon jugs (with L measurements) and tubing to blow through
Exploring histology and microscopy (no poster) MSU Histology demonstrates microscope use, offers craft supplies to build 8×11″ paper cell models
Cardiovascular What’s inside your heart? A coloring station, anatomical heart models, walkable floor map of the circulatory system, stethoscope experiments
Vision Exploration Do you see what I see? Various vision tests like color blindness, negative afterimage, etc.; anatomical eye models, station to build spinning color wheels
Neuroscience (no poster) The MSU Neuroscience Club demonstrates neural stimulation of a muscle, showcases real brains
Osteology Bone Physiology & Skeleton Puzzle A large floor puzzle of the human skeletal system, exploration of bone physiology using real human skeletons
GI Physiology The Question of Digestion Naming puzzle of GI system, models for peristalsis using tights and Easter eggs, observation of MRI videos
Oral Physiology Tooth be Told! Egg carton models with black glue for cavities and aluminum foil for fillings to illuminate importance of oral hygiene
Hematology Blood Understanding blood, its composition and purpose, building models of normal blood/centrifuged blood by filling tubes various candies
Face Painting MSU Undergraduate Physiology Society 25+ images for painting on child’s face or arm, donations accepted
Physio Photo-booth (no poster) Photo station with a giant “Physiology” man with the face cutout or physiology props to hold

IV. Summary

PhUn Day is the flagship outreach event for our department and generates a lot of excitement every year. Although this largely focuses on logistics and fostering institution-wide participation, we recognize service as a mutually beneficial relationship. This event brings a lot of attention to our local science center and shares resources with our community members. Therefore, this is a novel learning opportunity that enables MSU to form innovative partnerships while simultaneously stimulating civic awareness.

 

Valerie VanRyn is an Instructional Laboratory Technologist at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, MI. Her role includes developing and maintaining undergraduate Physiology teaching labs on campus, assisting with the medical school labs, co-coordinating the departmental outreach, mentoring a number of student activities and educational papers. In addition to her work at MSU, she serves as the Secretary-Treasurer on the Executive Committee of the Michigan Physiological Society (MPS), a local chapter of the American Physiological Society (APS), and on the CAC 2017 Planning Committee for the APS.  She received her B.S. in Physiology from Michigan State University in 2015.
Build community partnerships through PhUn Week: It Works

I became aware of PhUn Week during my time as the 2010-2011 APS K-12 Minority Outreach Fellow.  A requirement of the fellowship was to conduct PhUn Week activities in at least one classroom.  The goal was to take a scientist out of the lab and place them in a local school and it worked.  That year, over 1,100 K-12 students in six schools in San Antonio, TX were engaged in science outreach and it helped me establish seven years of partnerships with K-12 educators, schools, and community members.

 

 Types of university-community partnerships: What can you handle?

The types of partnerships you can establish vary.  PhUn Week activities are flexible and adaptable to fit a single one-time project or be developed into long-term, on-going continuum of projects.  Before choosing the type of partnership, take time to get to know your potential partner(s) – teachers, schools, administrators, or organizations.  Talk openly and listen carefully. Learn about each other.  Get a sense about the school district, the population they serve, demographics, barriers, culture, and purpose for the visit.  This process takes time and patience.  Keeping your long-term commitments in mind, realize you are determining fit, the level of partnership, and type of relationship you will establish:  high-level commitment + needs trust; low commitment + loose connection.

Consider your involvement carefully before you make a commitment.  PhUn Week activities are adjusted to fit various needs from a one-hour classroom visit or adapted to a gymnasium with 100 fifth-graders.  This is also a time to consider resources needed (How many volunteers? What supplies?).  Set realistic timelines, roles, responsibilities, and expectations.  Don’t be afraid to start small.  Small is good.  A small start is better than no start.

As the community partnership builds, share the decision-making process.  Find common goals and agree on activities that meet shared missions or outcomes.  For some partnerships, I have made science presentations and conducted hands-on activities in a 45-minute to a bilingual classroom (English/Spanish) during Career Day.  At other occasions, I engaged an entire grade level (K-5th and special needs classes) at a time in a gymnasium with group activities (over 500 students in one day).  At the middle school level, spending two full days (due to block schedules) in science classrooms where students rotated through five stations – then repeated the process for each class period till the students in an entire grade level participated.  PhUn week works well to create community partnerships and we have successfully adapted to various events. 

 

Sustaining and deepening university-community partnerships

Planning PhUn Week activities is just the beginning.  For projects where you wish to establish long-term relations, the partnerships must be sustained and deepened.  In this case, it is important for partners to work together, celebrate, and reflect on the experience.  Work with the K-12 teachers and school to set clear roles and expectations. Rather than take on the huge burden of doing PhUn Week activities alone, work together.  Be clear about what you can and cannot do.  Even when you do the planning, unforeseen events happen.  When volunteers don’t show up and you have to run 5 stations on your own, don’t panic.  Invite teachers, mature students, or others to step in help.  Ask for help.  By working together, relationships deepen.

Partnerships will improve when you take the time to celebrate and reflect on the experience.  Your work is not done when PhUn week is over.  The time after the event is a time to celebrate what was accomplished.  Partners put in lots of time and resources into the event.  Don’t minimize the impact of the event, rather celebrate the planning and execution of the activities.  Were your goals achieved?  Reflect and get feedback on the things that went well and did not.  Take note of lessons learned from both partners.  Some feedback and reflection is done immediately after the event; however you may need time for other feedback to be collected (demographics, volunteer hours, resources used, costs, etc.).  To this day, my favorite feedback about PhUn Week experience is when students complete a pre-visit and post-visit “Draw-A-Scientist” activity (APS, e-DAS Handout).  It may take a few days to collect student’s drawings and to visit with the teacher.

Recently, we tailored PhUn Week activities to university-community partnership that addressed social issues.  Social accountability and community engagement are major directives of the School of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of Incarnate Word and are integrated into the mission statement, strategic plan, and curriculum.  We took PhUn week activities outside the walls of the university and into the heart of the community. Over 3,000 people from across the city took part in the 2016 Science Fiesta in downtown San Antonio.  PhUn week activities were modified to a large, public, city-wide, free event where people of all ages to were invited to engage in hands-on science activities (PhUn Week style) and included an opportunity to “Meet a Scientist” and “Meet a Clinician.”  In this case, PhUn week helped us address social justice issues, engage vulnerable populations, and be positioned to help promote science, health, and education during the Science Fiesta.

 

Additional information about PhUn Week projects can be found at www.LifeSciTRC.org

Bibliography

American Physiological Society, 2007. PhUn Week 2006: Promoting the Understanding of Physiology in K-12 Classrooms. Physiologist, April, 50(2), pp. 62-63.

Jacobson, D. L., 2010. A new agenda for education partnerships stakeholder learning collaboratives. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 25 March.Volume 33.

Kerrigan, s., Reitenauer, V. & Arevalo-Meier, N., 2015. Enacting True Partnerships within Community-Based Learning: Faculty and Community Partners Reflect on the Challenges of Engagement. Metropolitan Universities, 26(3), pp. 63-78.

National Education Association Education Policy and Practice Department, 2008. Center for Great Public Schools. [Online]
Available at: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/PB11_ParentInvolvement08.pdf
[Accessed 22 June 2017].

US Department of Education, n.d. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for Global Leadership. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ed.gov/stem
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Zerhouni, E., 2008. NIH Director Newsletter. [Online]
Available at: http://www.nih.gov/about/director/newsletter/January2008.him
[Accessed 20 July 2014].

 

  Dr. Jessica M. Ibarra, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Clinical and Applied Science Education and a founding faculty member in the School of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in San Antonio, TX.  Dr. Ibarra teaches gross anatomy and neuroanatomy.  Dr. Ibarra began her undergraduate studies at Palo Alto College and earned an Associate of Science in Biology degree.  She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Ibarra earned her doctorate degree in Cellular and Structural Biology from the UT Health San Antonio where she also attended dental school and completed a postdoctoral fellowship. As a scientist, she conducted studies to explore the role of key inflammatory factors involved in chronic diseases such as heart failure, arthritis, and diabetes.  When Dr. Ibarra is not teaching, she inspires students to be curious about science with visits to local schools.  She has participated in science outreach through the APS Physiology Understanding Week, at the Science Fiesta, and the USA Science Engineering Festival in Washington, DC.  Dr. Ibarra’s passion for teaching and service translates into facilitating learning in the next generation scientists and physicians. She is active in APS as a member of the Porter Physiology and Minority Affairs Committee, Secretary of the History of Physiology Interest Group, a PECOP Fellow and a LifeSciTRC Vision and Change Fellow.