"The nation’s health and life science educators of the next millennium will be the VIPs of the National Health Museum"

While the National Health Museum will have a universal appeal and relevance that will ensure its popularity with a wide population, certain audiences will warrant special attention. The individuals who work to educate and inspire youth about health in our nation’s K-12 classrooms are one such audience.

The Museum’s "Next Generation Educator Project" is being crafted with the goal of better equipping these educators to undertake their important work by making improved resources and training available. The Museum’s commitment toward this goal is supported by surprising statistics, featured in a recently published Journal of School Health report:

• In 97.2% of elementary schools, 87.6% of middle schools, and 74.2% of high schools, required health education classes are not taught by health education specialists.
   
• Only 8.2% of all schools require newly hired health education teachers to have Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) certification.
   
• Only 9.6% of required health education classes or courses are taught by instructors who majored in health education or health and physical education combined.

An integral part of the Next Generation Educator Project will be the National Health Museum Fellows Program, a dynamic new initiative that will assemble a cadre of 300 exemplary health and biology educators, chosen in nation-wide competition, for one-week "teaching summits." These summits will introduce new teaching strategies and up-to-date content; offer opportunities to confer with health professionals, scientists and medical researchers; and, in the process, allow networking with other educators and health and biology professionals in the development of a robust community in cyberspace for health and biology teaching and learning.

The Fellows "community" of educators will "live" on the National Health Museum website (click here for details about our plans for web expansion found in NHM Online: Version 2.0), which already features hundreds of previously developed and tested health and biology education lessons and related materials, made available to educators and learners via the World Wide Web.

The NHM Fellows Program concept was developed in collaboration with the nation’s leading health and biology educator organizations, including the American Association for Health Education, the American School Health Association, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the National Center for Health Education, and the Society for Public Health Education. These organizations were closely involved in the development of the initial Fellows concept and will participate in the promotion of the program to their members, the selection of Fellows, and the planning and undertaking of the various summits.

The Museum of Health and Science, Houston, TX, centrally located in the world-renowned Texas Medical Center, will serve as the host for the first class of National Health Museum Fellows, which is expected to be named in 2004. Subsequent summits are planned for Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Funding for the initiative is currently being sought from a variety of potential sources that support professional development and innovative online resources for K-12 education.

Watch for further developments in this space as our future plans are realized for the Next Generation Educator Project.