The National Center for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has partnered with Edheads, a provider of online education tools, to launch web-based education modules about stem cells.
The modules, based on real clinical trials, are geared toward high school students and designed to enhance classroom curriculum. They offer an innovative and interactive learning experience to demonstrate the nature of stem cells and their importance in medicine and the development of new therapies.
Edheads, a US-based non-profit organisation, creates unique, educational web experiences that are free to teachers, students and parents, and advance science and math concepts beyond what is introduced in classrooms. Users need only a computer, a recent Internet browser, and a handheld mouse for optimal use.
Students, teachers and other potential users throughout the country can access the stem cell activities, which are available online at www.edheads.org. To experience the activity, users can click on the names of the modules on the left hand side of the screen.
The gaming feature of the site makes for an active learning environment, rather than a passive, 'click through' experience, giving students the opportunity to manipulate portions of the activity in order to proceed and answer questions that help enforce important aspects of the activity. The programme's interactive nature is designed for better information retention, possibly generating greater interest in pursuing a career in the field.
The first activity, 'create a line of stem cells,' was launched in late 2010. It allows students to take a virtual tissue sample from a specific part of the body, such as the bone marrow, and grow it to see which cells are stem cells. At the end of the lesson, students will be asked to publish their findings in the form of a report or journal article to be reviewed by a teacher or parent.
A second stem cell education module, 'stem cell transplant,' launched in February 2011, covers potential clinical applications for stem cells and how different stem cell types may be used.
The recently launched third stem cell lesson, 'stem cell heart repair,' features how researchers are exploring the potential application of stem cells in the development of new therapies that, if successful, may one day be used to regenerate diseased heart muscle. Two different methods are used to get the patient's own stem cells to their heart and help them recover from a heart attack.
In addition to the stem cell programmes, the Edheads site will make available a glossary of terms, a teacher's guide, and interviews with stem cell experts. Each of the three activities demonstrate the innovative research performed at the National Center for Regenerative Medicine by its founding partners, Athersys, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, The Ohio State University, and University Hospitals Case Medical Center. Each of these partners contributed to the content of these activities in support of high school education.
Search for more Digital learning solutions
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
