Use of Science Lab Simulation During a Two-Week Virtual Biomedical Research Training Summer Camp for Underserved Minority Youth: A COVID-19 Adjustment.

The Maryland Action for Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Research (MADDPR) Program provides hands-on lab experience and mentoring to underserved minority high school students. With the inability to conduct an in-person STEM summer camp, the program transitioned to a virtual format in 2020. Thirty-three students and their PLTW teacher participated in live sessions using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra®. One highlight of the sessions was program faculty's use of interactive simulation software such as science labs (Labster®), animal behavior (Sniffy the Virtual Rat®), and aseptic compounding (Virtual Interactive Clean Room®). Graduate student mentors worked with students in small virtual breakout sessions. Post-session survey data show that the majority of students felt comfortable participating in the simulation sessions. Students' responses indicated that they enjoyed the virtual labs and appreciated the effort to implement the game-like lab simulation exercises. Remarkably, student ratings of the virtual sessions compared favorably and, in some cases, exceeded those from the same sessions conducted in-person in 2019. In post-camp surveys, 96% of the participants indicated an interest in pursuing careers in pharmacy/other health professions. Student and teacher comments also indicated that the virtual experience of the camp prepared both students and their teacher for the coming fall semester at school.

Meeting the COVID Challenge to a Research-intensive Pre-college Science Education Program.

The objective of our program is to foster and facilitate authentic research experiences in middle and high school classrooms. We achieve this directly by providing students with a complete experience in scientific experimentation and communication. The centerpiece is a set of experiment modules which students use to investigate the effects of toxic chemicals on living organisms through the use of model organisms such as the earthworm, fathead minnow, and the zebrafish, and chemical contaminants commonly found in the environment. In parallel, we partner with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee science teacher certification program to prepare pre-service teachers to offer real research experiences in their future classrooms. With the COVID virus restricting or eliminating in-person learning, the program's challenge was (i) to create new ways to conduct experiments virtually that retain elements of the authentic research experience and (ii) to move all of the accompanying facets of the program to online formats. This paper will describe the new online materials and activities that were introduced this past year as well as the challenges they presented and the opportunities that they offer for the future.