INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

Field Test of Exploring Inherited and Acquired Traits

SCIENCE AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES

Thank you for participating in this field test of science curriculum materials. Your contributions will help us to refine a developmentally appropriate, inquiry-based science instructional unit centered around plant adaptations and designed to enable students to read, write and speak as budding scientists. This project is funded by a grant from the Science Education Partnership Award of the National Institutes of Health (grant number R25ODO21865 Pl: Nancy Moreno).

This field test is open to any self-contained Houston-area fourth grade school teacher who teaches reading, writing and science to the same group of students. Participating teachers will teach the inherited and acquired traits unit in their classroom and will receive teaching materials for up to 24 students. All will receive lesson materials for use with their students. Each teacher also will administer pre- and post-knowledge assessments to their students, collect weekly student scientist reports and copies of de-identified culminating projects, as well as provide their own critiques of the unit. Participants will receive stipend of $1,000 (payable upon participant’s completion of all study components).

All information collected for this study will be gathered without identifiers that can be linked to any individual. No results will be reported to any schools or school districts, and any information reported to the National Institutes of Health or published in peer-reviewed journals will be presented as aggregated data without any personal identifiers.

This human subjects research project has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Baylor College of Medicine and Affiliated Hospitals, as described in protocol number H-49620. There are no potential risks for any study subject beyond those encountered by any elementary school student or teacher every school day, while engaged in normal school-based activities. All participants are free to leave the study at any time.

Thank you again for your participation in this project. We hope you find the experience enjoyable and beneficial.