Science education partnership between the University of Colorado and a Denver high school

The authors describe a partnership, begun in 1997, between Manual High Scho ol, a school in which about 85% of the students are African American or His panic, and the University: of Colorado Hearth Sciences Center in Denver. Th ere are three partnership goals: help teachers transform a lecture-based cu rriculum into an inquiry based curriculum, help students build their scienc e knowledge, and give students opportunities to learn- and become excited-a bout careers in medicine. The current emphasis of the partnership is at the ninth-grade level. The first unique aspect of the partnership is the Medic al Explorers program One portion of the program begins when a hypothetical teenage car crash victim arrives at the emergency room; over the next six w eeks, practicing health care professionals dramatize their medical responsi bilities to this patient and discuss the academic twining necessary to fulf ill those responsibilities. In addition, the Medical Explorers students tra vel to the Health Sciences Center, where they tour laboratories and clinics , help conduct experiments, and explore computer-based surgical simulations . The second unique program is a service learning project in which ninth-gr ade students assist with an activity that gives elementary school students a chance to participate in the process of scientific inquiry and to discove r the wonder of real hearts and lungs; the ninth-graders assist with logist ics (e.g., they distribute newspapers), and, more important, interact with the younger students by asking thoughtful questions of them. The partnershi p plans to incorporate the elementary and middle schools that graduate thei r students to Manual High School in order to encourage the implementation o f inquiry-based science curricula and to provide sustained support to teach ers throughout the entire K-12 educational pathway. If medical colleges can help teachers provide a consistent classroom draw for student fascination in science and medicine, then the colleges are more likely to help create a rich diversity of students who pursue careers in medicine.