K-12 Outreach Activities
Environmental Health Science Education for Rural Youth
In 2005, CEHS was awarded an NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Center for Research Resources at the NIH to support a 5-year K-12 environmental health science program. Environmental health is being used as an integrative context for science learning, with a focus on water and air quality issues in the rural West. Special effort is being made to incorporate Native American perspectives and to develop educational materials and lesson plans that are cross-curricular in scope (math, science, language arts, health enhancement).
* Click here for a newsletter about education initiatives for K-12 students and professional development for teachers
* Click here for SEPA project abstract
* Click here for a SEPA flyer
* Take a look at NCRR's SEPA program
* NCRR SEPA newsletters
CEHS SEPA Partnership Newsletters
Resources for Teachers
Click here for lesson plans, activity sheets, resources, and useful links for educators.
Collaborating Organizations & Institutions
Salish-Kootenai College
Watershed Education Network
Montana Natural History Center
Air Toxics Under the Big Sky High School Symposium
A high school-based air quality monitoring program is one of the key subprojects comprising the CEHS science education grant. Big Sky High School chemistry teacher Dave Jones began piloting a new air toxics training program during the 2003-4 school year using one of his advanced chemistry students, Isaac Schmidt, shown here working with Tony Ward of the UM Center for Environmental Health Sciences. With assistance from Ward and another UM scientist, Earle Adams in the Chemistry Department, Jones submitted a grant application to the Toyota Tapestry Foundation resulting in the award of a $10,000 grant to support an innovative science education partnership between Big Sky High School and UM.
Using technology available at UM’s environmental chemistry lab facilities, Big Sky chemistry students investigated levels of air toxics present in both indoor and outdoor environments and their potential relationship with respiratory problems such as asthma.
With subsequent funding from the Toshiba America Foundation, the UM-Big Sky science team expanded upon the success of the air toxics project. A collaborative network for long-term environmental health science education has been established involving The University of Montana, tribal colleges, and several other high schools in western Montana, Idaho, and Alaska. Over the last six years, more than 1000 students have participated in the Air Toxics Program. Air quality investigations to date have focused on monitoring airborne contaminants such as volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, carbon dioxide, and radon.
* Several high school students received acclaim for their air quality research at the 47th annual Montana State Science Fair.
* SENCER Summer Institute 2005
* The SENCER Big Sky Model
Writing About Science
As part of her senior project at Hellgate High School, Mariah Smith wanted to hone her investigative writing skills by focusing on a locally relevant environmental health topic. She began to explore the question of how the occurrence of wildfires can impact the public’s health and wellbeing. An often-overlooked consequence is that household pets can also suffer from respiratory effects during these episodes, displaying symptoms that their owners may not recognize.
By delving into scientific research literature and through interviews with veterinarians and CEHS mentors, Mariah discovered that cats seem especially vulnerable to poor air quality and can develop asthma much the same as humans.
As a final step in her senior project, Mariah is pursuing the publication of her article about the potential role of companion animals as sentinels in environmental health.