High school science teachers to get medical school experience

On Wednesday, 100 new “students” will roam the halls of the University of Florida Health Science Center. High school science teachers from across the state will be at UF to learn from world leaders in psychiatry research and medicine as part of UF’s 10th annual Mini Medical School.

The event will take place from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the McKnight Brain Institute.

The program is geared at helping teachers bring the latest scientific research and knowledge back to their own high school science classes.

“New content reinvigorates the teacher,” said Julie Bokor, coordinator of Mini Medical School. “We hope this excitement will ultimately infect high school students with scientific curiosity.”

This year teachers will get a face-to-face introduction to psychiatry, focusing namely on topics such as addiction, obesity and personality disorders. The day will include lectures from UF psychiatry experts, including Dr. Mark Gold, Dr. Richard Shiner and Dr. Robert Averbuch. The teachers will also spend time in labs across the Health Science Center.

“I can’t tell you how much Mini Medical School has helped keep me abreast of advances in science. My students benefit from the best practices I have put into place as well as from lectures and activities that move us beyond their archaic text,” said Diane Conlon, a science teacher from Fleming Island High School in Clay County and a repeat Mini Medical School participant.

Prepared with paper, pen and lists of questions, teachers will sit for university-style lectures, engage in question-and-answer sessions with more than 20 UF faculty members, participate in guided tours and demonstrations, and meet with one another to discuss best practices.

Mini Medical School for secondary school teachers is a one-day, in-service program coordinated by the UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training and has been offered at UF every fall since 2001, with funding provided by the UF Medical Guild and Shands HealthCare. Past featured topics have included stem cells, cancer, infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease.

For more information or to be placed on the mailing list please call Julie Bokor at 352-392-2310 or e-mail: Julie@cpet.ufl.edu. The UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training can be found online at: http://www.cpet.ufl.edu.