STEM Related ABCS Courses

Learning Biology by Teaching Biology

BIOL 150 001

Ingrid Waldron & Jennifer Doherty

Prerequisite: One semester of college biology or 5 on the AP exam or 6 or 7 on the IB exam.  This ABCS course counts as one of the "4 additional cu" for the Biology major.

In this course, Penn students teach a series of hands-on activities to students in biology classes at West Philadelphia High School.  Most weeks will have the following schedule. On Mondays, 10-12, Penn students will learn the relevant biological background and techniques for a hands-on activity (in Goddard Lab 102).  On Wednesdays and/or Fridays, each Penn student will lead a small group of West high school biology students in carrying out the hands-on activity.  On average, we will teach in West only once a week, but the teaching sessions are scheduled for Wednesdays and Fridays to ensure that you will be available on whichever day is needed to accommodate the high school schedule.  West Philadelphia High School is located on Walnut Street between 47th and 48th Streets (enter on 48th Street).  Each high school teaching timeslot includes one hour of teaching at West and 10-15 minutes for transportation between Penn and West.  We will begin the semester with several classes concerning successful approaches for teaching biology in urban high schools.  Then we will start our series of hands-on activities that teach the high school students fundamental aspects of genetics, evolution, anatomy, physiology and other topics in the high school biology curriculum.  Requirements for Penn students include quizzes on the assigned reading, a research paper on a topic related to one of our hands-on activities, and grading two sets of the weekly quizzes for high school students and preparing brief reports concerning the strengths and weaknesses of our teaching and the high school students' learning that week.

The Community Math Teaching Program

Math 123 001

Idris Stovall

This course allows Penn students to teach a series of hands-on activities to students in math classes at University City High School.  The semester starts with an introduction to successful approaches for teaching math in urban high schools.  The rest of the semester will be devoted to a series of weekly hands-on activities designed to teach fundamental aspects of geometry.  During the first class meeting of each week, the students enrolled in the course review the relevant mathematical background and techniques for a hands-on activity. During the second session of each week, Penn students will teach the hands-on activity to a small group of high school students.  The Penn students will also have an opportunity to develop their own activity and to implement it with the high school students as well.

Urban Environments: Prevention of Childhood Lead Poisoning

(CWIC and BFS) ENVS 404 401/HSOC 404 401

Rich Pepino

In ENVS 404, students learn about the epidemiology of lead poisoning, the pathways of exposure, and methods for community outreach and education. As an ABCS course, Penn students collaborate with middle school teachers in West Philadelphia to engage eighth graders in exercises that apply environmental research about lead poisoning to their homes and neighborhoods. This seminar consists of lectures, readings, student presentations, group work, discussions, research, and community service. For their community service, students develop and teach six lessons on childhood lead poisoning in eighth grade classes in West Philadelphia. They also participate in the annual Healthy Philadelphia Girl Scout Day event, for which Penn students design and facilitate lead education activities.

Prevention of Tobacco Smoking

ENVS 407 401/HSOC 407 401

Rich Pepino

Cigarette smoking is a major public health problem.  The Centers for Disease Controls reports that more than 80% of current adult tobacco users started smoking before age 18.  The National Youth Tobacco Survey indicated that 12.8% of middle school students and 34.8% of high school students in their study used some form of tobacco products.  In ENVS 407, Penn undergraduates learn about the short and long term physiological consequences of smoking, social influences and peer norms regarding tobacco use, the effectiveness of cessation programs, tobacco advocacy and the impact of the tobacco settlement.  Penn students will collaborate with teachers in West Philadelphia to prepare and deliver lesson plans to 4th through 6th graders.   The undergraduates will survey and evaluate middle school and Penn student body smoking usage.  One of the goals of this course is to raise awareness of the middle school children to prevent addiction to tobacco smoke during adolescence. The collaboration with the middle schools gives the Penn students the opportunity to apply their study of the prevention of tobacco smoking to real world situations.  Course requirements include regular attendance at all lectures, a thorough comprehension of the course readings, participation in class discussion, application of the readings and lectures to a problem-oriented research project.  Each student will be required to identify a problem associated with tobacco addiction, marketing, legislation or health risks, and to conduct research on that issue, for a final paper and a formal presentation.

Bioengineering in the World

EAS 280 401/BE 2801 401

Dawn Elliott

Open to all majors at Penn, this course explores the wide-range of bioengineering applications 'in the world' and then takes these concepts 'into the world' by teaching them to a small group of students at University City High School.  Students will learn fundamental concepts behind bioengineering applications such as Gene Therapy, Stem Cells, Neuroengineering, Tissue Engineering, Biomechanics, Imaging, and Medical Devices.  They will also develop effective methods for teaching technical concepts.  At the high school, the Penn students will perform hands-on activities with the high school students, discuss ethical questions related to each topic, and explore career options.

Design, Visualization, and Construction for Community Development

EAS 282 001/BE 280 001

Norman Badler & Alfie Hanssen

This course will examine the various multimedia tools and technologies that are used in the design, construction and planning professions when designing community development projects.  Over the course of the semester, students will use the 3D modeling and animation application SketchUp to generate a community development project of their own design.  This project will serve as a platform for students to examine how development projects move from concept to reality through the involvement of four significant parties: the developer, the design professionals, the community and the construction manager.  In addition to multimedia tools and technologies, students will examine the socioeconomic forces that influence site selection and project function, the architects’ and engineers’ design processes from concept sketches to detailed plans and building sections, the impact a project can have on its community and the environment, and finally the construction bid process and the construction manager’s handling of the project once awarded the job.

Science in Elementary and Middle Schools

EDUC 421/ENVS 421

Nancey Lee Bergey

In this ABCS course, undergraduate students work in a West Philadelphia public school classroom as the students in that classroom learn science and social studies skills, and apply them to environmental content. In a program called, “Learn Locally, Share Globally” the public school students will be learning about their local environment, and sharing what they have learned, electronically, with students who live in a different part of the world. An active blackboard forum allows all members of the Penn class to follow what is occurring in the classroom throughout the week. The content of our readings, discussions, and activities in class prepare students to teach science or social studies in elementary and middle schools, but are also closely tied to our work in the school. The course provides a good background for Penn students who expect teach as a part of their work, especially in a science-related field (environmental studies, medicine, landscape architecture, etc.) It also satisfies the requirement for a science and social studies “methods” class in the elementary strand of the Urban Education Minor.

New Courses:

The Community Algebra Initiative

MATH 122 001

Idris Stovall

This course allows Penn students to teach a series of hands-on activities to 9th grade students in an algebra class at Sayre High School. The semester starts with an introduction to successful approaches for teaching math in urban high schools. The rest of the semester will be devoted to a series of weekly and bi-weekly hands-on activities designed to teach fundamental aspects of algebra in real world and practical contexts. During the first class meeting of each week, the students enrolled in the course review the relevant mathematical background and techniques for a hands-on activity. During the second session of each week, Penn students will teach the hands-on activity to a small group of high school students. The Penn students will also have an opportunity to develop their own activity and to implement it with the high school students as well.

The Community Physics Initiative

PHYS 137

Nigel Lockyer & Bill Bremer

The goal is to develop a course that links practical and theoretical attributes of some fundamental physics concepts to engage students in significant research and service activities between Penn students and students at University City High School (36th and Filbert Street). Physics 137 will contribute to the enhancement of research and teaching as well as to improving the quality of life in our community. The idea is that the Penn students will learn the physics topics in greater detail in order to effectively communicate and interact with the high school students in order to deepen their understanding and ideally be resource, mentor, and ambassador to make the concepts even more relevant. Penn students will develop novel teaching techniques that emphasize demonstrations as a means of teaching tool. This class will meet twice per week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). The meeting times for this course must reflect the time of the high school class time, which is being determined. Be on the lookout for this great course and opportunity!

Elementary Social Studies and Science Methods

EDUC 245 002

Nancey Lee Bergey

Using the ABCS format, students will learn the foundations, skills and practices of elementary school social studies and science teachers in the classroom, while putting the knowledge to work in an innovative science social/studies environmental project at the Penn-Alexander school.

Crime/Science/Instruction: CSI and Science in High School

NURS 900 333

Kathleen Brown

This course is designed to introduce the forensic science aspect of selected crimes investigations to High School students.  High School students will be introduced to the science of DNA and the science of forensic toxicology via an established chemistry class. H.S. students will also be introduced to how a crime scene is investigated.  Students in the course will develop and deliver appropriate teaching plans to high school students.  Students in the class will work in two groups within the course to develop science based teaching plans.  Under the guidance of faculty in the course, students will design and implement a teaching plan related to the science of DNA or the science of forensic toxicology.

Dormant Courses (Faculty Needed):

BIBB 150

Last taught by Steve Fluharty

Students in this course will continue to learn neuroscience concepts that are introduced in BBB 109.  The students will then develop and teach a series of neuroscience lessons for high school students.  This course will meet once per week at Penn for a seminar session, and once per week at Sayre High School to implement neuroscience lessons.  During the seminar, students will participate in a combination of reflection, lecture, and guest speakers.  The Penn and Sayre students will generate the topics for the high school neuroscience lessons.  BBB 109 is a prerequisite for this course.

ABCs of Chemistry

CHEM 008

Last taught by Tracey Otieno

A great opportunity to help local schools and discover your teaching talent. Students enrolled in the course will meet twice a week. Once each week, students will meet at Penn to learn a chemistry lab and reflect upon your work and the process of teaching/learning chemistry.  The second meeting will take place at West Philadelphia High School, where Penn students will guide a small group of high school students through the chemistry lab. The meeting times for the class on Thursday reflect the time of the high school classes and allow for 10-15 minutes for transportation between Penn and West and implementation of the lab. Students of all years and majors are welcome and encouraged to spend an exciting semester reviewing general chemistry knowledge while helping high school students explore these topics for the first time!

Sex Differences: Behavior, Biology and Evolution

Last taught by Rubin & Raquel Gur

The availability of new methods for studying the brain in humans and other species has resulted in a virtual explosion of studies on sex differences in neurobiology, and not all that has hit the media is based on solid grounds. However, some consistent findings indicate that sex differences in brain structure and functional activity exist in humans and other species and that they relate importantly to behavioral differences in health and disease. For example, men, who are more prone to physical aggression and sexual promiscuity, have less brain tissue in frontal brain regions implicated in the modulation of emotion. This is reversed in schizophrenia, a neuro-developmental disorder that starts earlier and is more severe in men. These sex differences also have implications for understanding how sexual differentiation plays a role in evolution and perhaps even permit some speculation on their societal and cultural implications.

The seminar will combine lecture with discussion of empirical research results with individual and team research projects focusing on aspects of sex differences. The framework will be oriented toward neurobehavioral research, so readiness to understand biological and cognitive concepts and methodology will be needed.