Frontiers in Physiology Programs What are LOTs

What are LOTs

Who can serve on a LOT Team?
Each LOT team must have a team leader who is an APS member. The team should include physiologists (and/or other biomedical researchers); local middle/high school teachers; and if possible, representatives from the local school system (e.g., the science supervisor or in-service coordinator) and from any large federally funded science education programs (e.g., NSF State Systemic Initiatives or Urban Initiatives). A good target number would be 6-8 members; this allows the team leader to distribute the team's tasks among a number of persons. If you would like to receive information on contact persons for science education reform initiatives in your area, contact the APS Education Officer.

The LOT Team Leader is responsible for:

• Recruiting the members of the LOT team.
• Assisting the APS Education Office in securing a local site suitable for the LOT Training Institute
• Ensuring that all activities of the LOT team, as listed below, are carried out.
• Ensuring that APS receives all information and materials for evaluation or for financial reimbursement by the specified deadlines.

LOT Team Members are responsible for:

• Attending a Training Institute in your area:
  A team of experienced LOT members will travel to your site to conduct an on-site Training Institute for your entire team. Your new LOT will select 1-3 of the Physiology Learning Cycle Units  to use at your workshops. Materials and resources for the in-site training will be provided by the APS office and the experienced LOT members will serve as mentors for the new LOT team of the first year of their program.
• Recruiting 25-30 middle or high school teachers to participate in a 1-1.5 day workshop. This may be accomplished through the school system but if you already have a list of contact teachers with whom you work, this is fine. Recruiting participants should not be difficult for this free workshop. For example, the San Diego LOT received 60 applicants for their 25 openings within a few weeks after mailing flyers to science supervisors and the Houston LOT received 90 responses to their mailing.
• Conducting the 1-1.5 day workshop. Both researchers and teachers from the LOT should be involved in implementing the workshop.
• Hosting one follow-up "brainstorming" session with participating teachers. These sessions can focus on a variety of topics, including: how the workshop materials were used in the classroom; discussions of effective teaching strategies; demonstration of Internet resources for educators; presentations on careers in biomedical research; or opportunities for teachers at your institution.
• Participating in the evaluation component of the program by distributing participant surveys. Surveys are provided by the project's external evaluator, Horizon Research, Inc.

Consider holding future workshops for teachers in your area. The workshops organized by previous LOTs have quickly become oversubscribed! Teachers are eager for the type of information and interaction that the Frontiers workshops can provide.

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The Frontiers in Physiology programs are developed and sponsored by the American Physiological Society with additional funding from the National Center for Research Resources (Science Education Partnership Award #RR15251) at the National Institutes of Health.