The Food and Drug Administration's Education and Outreach Program Targeting School-aged Childrend

ABSTRACT: Food and Drug Administration's Education and Outreach Program TargetingSchool-Aged ChildrenOBJECTIVE: The objective of the proposal is to demonstrate how Graduate School USA willprovide year-round program support for FDA CFSAN's educational outreach programs forschool-aged children, using FDA-approved materials to convey food safety and nutritionmessage. The full-year program will include train-the-trainer programs; promotion of materialsthrough advertisements, listservs and websites; and distribution of FDA materials atconferences and to classroom teachers and other educators.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Promotion of the Professional Development Program in FoodScience, based on the Science and Our Food Supply curriculum, will be accomplished throughprint advertisements in educational publications; at educational conferences and participant-led workshops; through state and regional listserv notifications; and via theteachfoodscience.org website. The online application, located at teachfoodscience.org, ismanaged by Graduate School USA. Applications will be reviewed by master teachers/programfacilitators; selection is based on a scoring rubric, resulting in selection of 37 educators with thehighest scores being selected as summer 2016 participants. Those teachers are brought toWashington, DC, for a week-long, residential program that incorporates hands-on training atUniversity of Maryland Microbiology labs, as well as in classroom training at Graduate SchoolUSA. Visits to the USDA Agricultural Farm and the FDA to discuss food safety and nutrition withtheir scientists is an integral component of the week.Summer participants teach components of the Science and Our Food Supply curriculum to theirstudents in the fall; in December, the group reconvenes with the facilitators for a day-longtraining symposium at a regional NSTA Conference to review best practices and how modulesfit within Science, Technology, Engineering Math (STEM) curriculum components, and to planagendas for their mandatory train-the-trainer workshops, to take place before June 30, 2016.Ongoing support of the summer participants is provided by the Graduate School USA point ofcontact, and supplementary materials are forwarded to these teachers for their train-the-trainer workshops. Additional support is provided for teachers who make contact throughwebsites, teacher-led workshops, and at educational conferences. FDA material orders areplaced on a regular basis from teacher requests.