Science Teaching Excites Medical Interest: A Teacher Professional Development Program in Mississippi

The Science Teaching Excites Medical Interest (STEMI) program is a collaboration of university-based biomedical clinical and research experts, graduate students in clinical anatomy, and Mississippi K-12 schools that seeks to develop a technologically-enhanced teacher-centered community of health learners. The STEMI community is developing, implementing, and disseminating high school learning products utilizing new technological approaches for engaging students in the overall STEMI focus of exploring relationships between health literacy, the state’s epidemic of obesity, and ensuing anatomic and functional pathophysiology. An evaluation team utilizes a robust mixed-methods approach to examine the program goals and the potential for program expansion and replication. A social network analysis is tracking the development of the community learners. As STEMI aims to improve teacher quality by developing key competencies necessary for implementation of the flipped classroom technologically-engaged modules, a competency model was developed. Competencies were identified via participatory evaluation techniques and assessments are aligned to the competencies. The competency of teachers in the skills needed for creation and delivery of effective flipped lessons is tracked using a radar graph to guide tailored professional development. Preliminary evaluation data indicate the community is growing and strengthening and the competency assessment model is effective in guiding continuing professional development.