Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (CPET)

Environmental Health Partnership (EHP)

EHP 2002

The 2002 NIEHS Superfund Environmental Health Partnership (EHP) program took place Sunday, June 16 - Saturday, June 22, 2002. UF CPET was proud to host twenty outstanding science teachers selected from across the state to partake in our intensive one-week program. They represented cities with Superfund sites, in need of community education and awareness. The schools that were represented varied from Opportunity Alliance schools (Raines in Jacksonville and Miami Senior High) to AP and IB schools, but the unquestionable link was the teachers' passion about learning to better educate their students.

Throughout the week, the teachers attended lectures to learn current research concepts and applications in environmental toxicology, participated in hands-on laboratory and field research, and developed leadership skills to become agents of change in the environmental health of their community. The EHP teachers return to their communities, having learned the most recent advances in science which, combined with their outstanding teaching talents, will bridge the research community with the general public.

Each teacher created an "Action Plan" describing a means to translate and transfer the Superfund/EHP experience to the classroom, school and community. The teachers will return to UF February 2-4, 2003, to share the school's results at the Florida Junior Science Engineering and Humanities Symposium (JSEHS). The implementation of the "Action Plan" will be evaluated at the end of this academic year.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for 2002 Action Plans and Outcomes and pictures from JSEHS.

Sunday, June 16

Overview
Dr. Mary Jo Koroly gave an overview of the week as well as some of the other UF-CPET programs.

Dr. Steve Roberts presented a lecture on the Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) at UF.

Monday, June 17

Risk Assessment
Dr. Steve Roberts and Dr. Hugo Ochoa, both faculty at UF, presented material on Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. Ms. Beth Copeland from the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee presented information about Who Does What at Superfund Sites and Public Health. Dr. Aaron Hilliard, from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, gave a ‘front line’ look at the cleanup of Superfund sites and the testing of areas around Jacksonville for contaminants such as lead.

Bioremediation
Dr. Angela Lindner and her graduate students introduced the teachers to bioremediation. The participants rotated through four lab stations, performing experiments they can use in their classrooms.

Best practice sharing
The teachers started Best Practice Sharing sessions in which each teacher presented a novel or successful classroom activity or approach.

Tuesday, June 18

Environmental Field Day
Mr. Steve Everett, an Environmental Science teacher and Summer Program Assistant with UF CPET, led the teachers through North Central Florida’s water, from a creek, to a sink, to a spring. The teachers collected water, soil, and benthic samples at each location.

Water and Soil Testing
Dr. Charles Lawrence, a CPET instructor, presented the teachers with an environmental classroom projects manual and CD-ROM he developed, and demonstrated some of the experiments so they could easily be reproduced at the schools. Using the samples they gathered during the day, the teachers were able to perform the experiments themselves.

Wednesday, June 19

Vitellogenin Laboratory
The teachers attended Dr. Art Edison’s lecture on Molecules and their Shapes in conjunction with SSTP. The teachers did part one of a two-day experiment in biotechnology. Dr. Nancy Denslow’s laboratory staff and students led an experiment utilizing vitellogenin as a biomarker in Fat Head Minnows exposed to estrogenic compounds. Dr. Denslow’s graduate students presented research related to the experiment in short lectures and the undergraduate students discussed the concepts and techniques the teachers were learning.

Thursday, June 20

Vitellogenin Laboratory
The teachers attended Dr. Sheldon Schuster’s lecture Biotechnology and Gene Therapy in conjunction with SSTP. The teachers completed the vitellogenin experiment by developing their Western blots and Comassie stained gels. Dr. Nancy Szabo presented a lecture about her research at the Analytical Toxicology Core Laboratoy (ATCL) and the services the ATCL provides other scientists.

Ecotoxicology
Dr. Gross with the USGS and UF Fisheries gave an overview of the Ecotoxicology Program, part of the SBRP. The teachers rotated through laboratories and had ‘hands on’ opportunities to work with mussels, fish, alligators, and alligator eggs.

Adopt a River; Best practice sharing
Ms. Fritzi Olson from Alachua County’s Adopt a River program spoke to the teachers about projects they can do with their students to help preserve and restore their communities waterways.

The teachers completed the Best Practice Sharing sessions.

Friday, June 21

Laboratory Rotations
The teachers participated in laboratory rotations through Pharmacology with Dr. Kathleen Shiverick, Analytical Toxicology Core with Dr. Nancy Szabo, and Histology/Pathology with Dr. Holly Kolenda-Roberts. Three groups of 6-7 teachers spent two hours at each laboratory, engaged in ‘hands-on’ and ‘mind-on’ research activities. They were also presented with different career-related applications of the research programs.

Saturday, June 22

Action Plans
The teachers presented the Action Plans that they will implement in their classrooms. The results of their action plans will be presented to the SBRP scientists, students and teachers from across the state at the Florida Junior Science, Engineering, and Humanities Symposium (JSEHS), hosted by UF CPET in February at UF.

Action Plans and Outcomes ( Adobe Acrobat needed)