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Bioscience
Education and Training Program Directory
Best
Practices
Practices
link education to the workplace and combine various kinds
of learning that are most likely to prepare students for a
variety of career opportunities. The
best education and training programs are those that include
as many as possible of the following features. Each
of the programs described in this directory has some of these
features:
- strong
philosophical and financial support from top management
of local industry and local government
- advisory
boards comprised of representatives from local bioscience
workplaces and labor unions that assist the educators in
program and curriculum design geared toward industry skill/knowledge
standards
- courses
that combine academic and applied learning in all subjects
- pedagogy
that mirrors "high performance" work organization
practices, such as team learning and teaching and project-based,
problem-centered learning
- work-based
learning experiences, with work-based mentors, coordinated
with school-based learning
- extensive
opportunities for teacher, career counselor, and work-based
mentor professional development
- availability
of state-of-the-art equipment and materials for practice
- various
opportunities to interact with industry workers, in school
and at the workplace, to learn about different occupations
and their requirements and to become familiar with a variety
of work settings
- performance-based
assessment, including portfolio assessment
- articulation
with other academic institutions to ensure coordination
of learning, transfer of credits, and opportunities for
continued education and training
Sample
Programs:
Baltimore City Community College
Berkeley Biotechnology Education, Inc.
Boston University School of Medicine
New Hampshire's Community-Technical College System
Trends
in Bioscience Education
In
the past decade, there has been a growth in the development
of bioscience technician education programs at high schools
and community colleges. Some of these programs, such as Tech
Prep programs, begin in high school and continue into one
or two year community college study. Some are 2-4 year high
school career academy programs that prepare graduates for
entry-level jobs in the bioscience industry. Many programs
are one to two year programs leading to certificates or associate
of science, associate of applied science, or associate of
arts degrees. Some of these programs include a work-based
learning component (internship, cooperative education program
[co-op], or other arrangement) at local work places, while
other programs have been entirely school based.
This
movement toward pre-baccalaureate technical education programs
reflects the growing realization that four-year college academic
programs, some without any work-related laboratory experience,
often produce graduates who are overeducated in theoretical
knowledge and undereducated in the practical, applied knowledge
required for beginning-level technical occupations. Students
graduating from four-year science programs are not qualified
for most high-level research and development jobs (which usually
require doctorate degree). They therefore take technician
jobs, which do not make use of their range of scientific knowledge
and require additional hands-on training (provided at considerable
expense by their employers). In short, there has been a mismatch
between available education, student expectations, and the
needs of industry.
The
development of specific education and training for bioscience
technicians will create a better match between education "output"
and industry needs, especially if these programs are designed
to meet the national industry-based skill standards. Many
employers are still reluctant to hire people educated by less
than four-year baccalaureate programs. However, experience
is showing that as employers are exposed to graduates of industry-oriented
pre-baccalaureate programs with work-based learning components,
they are realizing that these people are well qualified.
If
this trend continues, more people with pre-baccalaureate education,
targeted to industry needs, will have more work opportunities
within the bioscience industry. Baccalaureate degree programs
in biology, chemistry, and related sciences may come to be
seen primarily as prerequisites for high level positions and
postgraduate science work or medical school.
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