Staff Reports
The University of Florida invited six Florida high school science teachers to spend five days this summer at the main UF campus to develop lesson plans on agriculture and food security.
From July 24-28, teachers will be learning about the current research to improve disease resistance in crops. The professional development workshop, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the second in a series of four hosted by the University of Florida Thompson Earth Systems Institute’s Scientist in Every Florida School Program and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ department of plant pathology.
The teachers will run active experiments relating to improving the rice immune system in the Song Lab at UF. During their week at UF, they will work with scientists to develop lesson plans that meet state learning standards to help students better understand issues surrounding agriculture and food security.
“I’m excited to show our educators that the information gained from this research may contribute to both crop improvement and rational drug design for human diseases,” Wen-Yuan Song, assistant professor at UF/IFAS said in a press release. “My hope is the teachers bring this information back to their classrooms and inspire students to consider careers in plant pathology.”
Participating teachers will receive a stipend for their participation. In the upcoming school year, they will be expected to deliver one of the lesson plans and coordinate a scientist visit to their classroom.
More information is available at: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/earth-systems/scientist-in-every-florida-school/