# BEST Program:  Bioengineering Experience for Science Teachers

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2022 · $108,000

## Abstract

Bioengineering Experience for Science Teachers “BEST” Program
ABSTRACT
The Bioengineering Experience for Science Teachers at the University of Illinois at Chicago was
first offered in 2016 to provide a collaborative summer research opportunity for Chicago Public
School (CPS) pre-engineering and science teachers. Under the guidance of faculty from the
College of Engineering and College of Education, teachers participate in a bioengineering research
lab and use the experience to create a curriculum for their own classrooms. The goal of the BEST
program is to enhance the skills of urban public high school science teachers and enable them to
more effectively communicate the nature of bioengineering to their students. Teachers can choose
among diverse research opportunities in rehabilitation engineering, bionanomaterials, biomedical
imaging, microfluidics, biomaterials, and regenerative medicine. The BEST program places six
teachers in bioengineering research laboratories and employs a Community of Practice model to
support development of bioengineering curricula for use in the teachers’ classrooms. This proposal
plan enhances the BEST program by expanding the analysis to evaluate curriculum improvement
from a pre-program baseline, evaluating teachers in the classroom during curriculum
implementation, and strengthened avenues for BEST teachers to disseminate their experience and
curricula to a broader audience. The BEST program is scaffolded to support the development of
appropriate teaching materials of bioengineering content which translates scientific knowledge into
specific curriculum maps, instructional materials, and classroom assessments that are aligned with
Common Core State Standards CCSS and Next Generation Science Standards NGSS. As it has
been widely shown that teacher influence can be a significant factor in student career interests, the
BEST program aims to provide effective professional development to increase teacher’s
bioengineering content and pedagogical knowledge to ultimately increase the pipeline of
bioengineers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10129616
- **Project number:** 2R25EB021733-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Miiri Kotche
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $108,000
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2016-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10129616

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10129616, BEST Program:  Bioengineering Experience for Science Teachers (2R25EB021733-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10129616. Licensed CC0.

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