The National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has been funding innovation at two-year colleges for over twenty years. With a focus on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy, and strong partnerships between academic institutions and industry, ATE promotes improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels.
To learn more about ATE, please visit the NSF ATE program home page.
Flathead Valley Community College students participate in a plant DNA barcoding experiment, one of several biotech awareness events.
Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) will implement "TeaM SCoRE Biotechnology: Teachers in Montana Strengthening the Continuity of Rural Education in Biotechnology" to increase the number of high school students who matriculate into FVCC's biotechnology program. Specific strategies are professional development workshops for high school teachers and hands-on biotechnology lab experiences for high school students, both done in collaboration with the PIs and FVCC students. Many of the high schools in the FVCC service area are rural and this project will contribute to educating the workforce in rural, northwestern Montana.
TeaM SCoRE Biotechnology will increase the awareness and the size of FVCC's biotechnology program by reaching out to high school students and teachers in rural northwestern Montana. It will also leverage the prior ATE at FVCC, "Strengthening Continuity of Rural Education in Biotechnology" (Award #1104075), and the work of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI, Award #1524353 and #1118679). TeaM SCoRE will provide professional development workshops for high school teachers along with equipment and materials needed to implement biotechnology laboratory exercises, with the goal of preparing high school students for the FVCC biotechnology program. There is the potential to learn about effective practices in community college and high school collaborations, how those collaborations support student transitions and persistence in higher education, and what practices are most effective in engaging students in a rural environment. Project evaluation will focus on identifying the activities that best engage high school teachers, and how these projects improve the knowledge and skills of high school students. The dissemination plan will have a local focus, by working with local and regional media, and will take advantage of the regional and national ATE networks.
Teachers at the DNA Bootcamp learn techniques for leading hands-on biotechnology laboratory lessons.
The TeaM SCoRE Biotechnology: Teachers in Montana Strengthening the Continuity of Rural Education in Biotechnology project is based at Flathead Valley Community College. Flathead Valley Community College, founded in 1967, is a two-year community college located in Kalispell, Montana. The college offers degree programs in agriculture and natural resources, business and technology, health care, mathematics and science, arts, education, humanities and social sciences, and occupational trades. 
Ruth Wrightsman
Principal Investigator
Email: [email protected]
The TeaM SCoRE Biotechnology project provides professional development for high school teachers in northwest Montana. In addition to instructional guidance, the project offers equipment and supplies to implement innovative biotechnology lessons.
In 2016-2017, 18 of the 30 teachers who attended four, two-day DNA Bootcamp workshops added biotechnology lab activities to their classes attended by 300 high school students. In fall 2017, 17 more teachers attended the workshops.
Flathead Valley Community College education students are also involved in the project's effort to raise awareness of biotechnology. They demonstrated DNA extractions and gel electrophoresis to 600 students in eight schools, simultaneously gaining pedagogical skills and biotechnology knowledge.
