Health in Our Hands: A New Genomic Framework for Schools and Communities

The Health in Our Hands team is developing and assessing high quality curriculum materials that blend school and community learning experiences, innovative professional development, and a community health/science education partnership to support and sustain HiOH in schools and communities. 

As students move from upper elementary to higher grade levels they can appreciate that human illness need not only be caused by germs, and that a combination of genetic and environmental influences may be at work. All children growing up in this world need to understand the concepts behind these scientific breakthroughs to make informed decisions about their own lives, and to act as citizens developing responsible science policy.
 
But educating students about these scientific ideas at the microscopic and macroscopic levels poses a challenge to science educators. And it’s not only children – studies show that most Americans do not fully understand modern concepts in genetics such as the importance of both genetic and environmental factors in shaping behavior and disease risk.

Through ongoing partnership and relationships between schools and communities, HiOH provides students with unique, authentic and relevant science-related experiences in their community, builds a real-life social purpose for science learning, and provides opportunities to learn and apply scientific ideas in context reinforcing both science learning and social and emotional competencies.

Open-source middle and high school curriculum materials are accessible on the Health in Our Hands project site (link below left).