Rx for Science Literacy: The What, Where, How and Why of Health Science Research
The Rx for Science Literacy curriculum manual is designed for use by K–12 teachers in science and other subjects.
Rx for Science Literacy is mandated by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as a primary curriculum resource for the statewide Biomedical Technology I high school course. It’s filled with background info, handouts, lesson plans and activities on many topics, including the process, benefits and ethical considerations of biomedical research; the care and use of animals in medical science; and life science careers. Click here for the table of contents.
Rx for Science Literacy has been updated and expanded continuously since 1994. The most recent version was published in 2013 and includes three new chapters on topics critical to biomedical research in North Carolina: nanobiotechnology, regenerative medicine and vaccines. These chapters were made possible by funding from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and are available for free download:
The rest of the manual also has been updated to reflect the most up-to-date facts and figures.
Not Only for Science Teachers
Rx for Science Literacy includes a curriculum crosswalk for science, English, social studies and technology teachers that shows many of its possible connections to the North Carolina standards across many curricula areas. The crosswalk includes connections to the Next Generation Science Standards.
The manual also includes a reading guide that provides activities for using the reference materials in the manual as a way of integrating Common Core reading standards into the science classroom.
Rx for Science Literacy is bound in a three-ring binder, with pages designed specifically for photocopying.
Adapted for Specific Grade Levels
While the content in each Rx for Science Literacy manual is exactly the same, we now offer four different sets of color-coded, tabbed inserts. These tabs mark the start of each chapter and allow teachers to see at a glance which chapters are applicable to the grades they teach. The four different sets of tabs correspond to:
- Grades K–5
- Grades 6–8
- Grades 9–12
- Career and Technical Education (CTE)
- Printed Manual: $145.00
- Receive a free copy by attending an NCABR in-person workshop that features this curriculum manual. Click here for the workshop schedule.
Mapping Your Future: Careers in Biomanufacturing
For Middle and High School Educators
This supplemental curriculum manual of 190+ pages focuses on the wide range of career prospects offered by the fast-growing field of biomanufacturing.
It’s the basis for Biotechnology Research and Careers, NCABR’s ongoing online professional development course for teachers from grades 6-12.
The manual was updated comprehensively in spring 2014 to reflect a North Carolina biotechnology and biomanufacturing landscape that has changed significantly since the manual’s initial publication, in 2006.
Since the manual first was published, NCABR has held numerous day-long professional development workshops to introduce North Carolina teachers to the curriculum. Workshops have been held at Biogen, in Research Triangle Park; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, in Sanford; and North Carolina State University’s Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, in Raleigh.
As part of a 2008 national science curriculum conference, NCABR also held a workshop that featured the manual for teachers from 24 states.
In all, more than 200 teachers have participated in a related workshop, and more than 500 copies of the manual have been distributed to teachers through Career and Technical Education programs of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
The Biogen Foundation and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center generously have provided funding to make Mapping Your Future possible.
Pathology & Forensic Science
Curriculum Supplement for North Carolina CTE Educators
This 97-page curriculum supplement was published in July 2013 and features five units about pathology and forensic science:
- Diagnostic Services in Health Care
- DNA Analysis
- Applications of Forensic Science
- Uncertainty in Medical Testing
Each unit contains (a) a reference article that gives students an overview of the unit’s topic and (b) a student activity that is accompanied by a teacher activity overview.
The curriculum supplement was created in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.