Environmental health is the study of how environmental factors can harm human health and how to identify, prevent, and control these effects. The field concerns itself with maintaining a safe supply of food and drinking water, discovering the mechanisms of environmentally related diseases, treating and disposing of solid and toxic wastes and reducing air, water food, and noise pollution.

Toxicologist Steve Gilbert says that optimal environmental health consists of a set of “conditions that ensure that all living things have the best opportunity to reach and maintain their full genetic potential. ” Dr. Gilbert, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., is the author of A Small Dose of Toxicology - The Health Effects of Common Chemicals.

The seven-year goal of this project is to train educators in grades six through eight to use existing as well as newly developed materials to plan, implement, and assess student driven projects that use Environmental Health Sciences as an Integrative Context (EHSIC) for learning.

Middle schools in Washington State and New Mexico are incorporating both web-based and print multi-disciplinary learning exercises into their curricula. HEART (Health & Environment Activities Research Tool), an instructional development manual, guides teachers and students to identify, plan, implement, and assess their own interdisciplinary projects by providing them with outlines, checklists, concepts and curriculum resources.

The Positive Effects of Community-Based Student Research Are Far Reaching

Benefits to the Students:

• Enhance critical thinking skills and improve comprehension of all academic areas.
• Develop competency in identifying problems, assembling data, arriving at solutions, and communicating findings.
• Improve performance on standardized tests.
• Develop sense of personal involvement in community related issues.

Benefits to the Teachers:

• All materials and training are designed to address specific state and district benchmarks.
• University credit, teacher stipend, training in materials on-site with substitute reimbursement.
• Grant-funded resource teacher for classroom support.
• K-20 videoconferencing and other professional development opportunities at the University of Washington and the University of New Mexico.
• Access scientific experts and science resources and enhance professional stature through interaction with peers and scientists.

Benefits to the Community:

• Students are participating as active citizens in the community.
• systemic program ties curriculum throughout district middle schools.
• Collaboration between students, school and community members on environmental health issues.
• Empower people to make informed, responsible choices about how they interact with the environment.

All the IEHMSP materials will be published and available nationally. Train-the-Trainer seminar will be conducted in the final year to further facilitate distribution of the developed model to other sites around the country.

The Integrated Environmental Health Middle School Project is a collaboration between the Community Outreach and Education Program and research faculty at the University of Washington's NIEHS Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health and the University of New Mexico's NIEHS Developmental Center.

IEHMSP is an EHSIC grant of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The project is funded until August of 2007.