Photograph by Noah Kalina
Say a talented teacher instructs 40 students a year. Maybe four become teachers themselves; maybe one uses the original's techniques. But what if, in a single year, a successful course could spread across 12 schools and 300 students? And what if it could test its own success? Tuajuanda Jordan, head of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science Education Alliance, is executing just such a massive educational experiment. As head of the SEA, Jordan identifies promising local initiatives and adapts them to patch holes in the national science curriculum. Jordan — a biochemist by training — is driven, analytical, and has a reputation for being a tough but fair professor. When Katrina drove her from her post at Xavier University, HHMI snapped her up. "I was a latecomer into science, and I'm first-generation college — to get to do this is incredible," she says. "I love my job." < Back | Continue >
The National Genomics Research Initiative — a gargantuan genomics experiment that adapts materials from the University of Pittsburgh — is the SEA's first project. The course is restricted to freshmen, and at some universities, to non-biology majors or "at risk" students. By tracing retention — keeping kids in science or just keeping kids in school — through their college careers, Jordan will see the impact of group learning and early research on the cohorts. It's high-throughput social science and high-throughput biology, too. Six genomes had been sequenced by early January, with students slated to begin bioinformatics processing and annotation of the sequences during the coming term. The professors are imagining ways to collaborate beyond the course, and school administrators are ready to redesign their curricula for all students with the help of Jordan and the SEA, if the course proves successful. < Back | Continue >
