# UQUEST (Questioning, Understanding, Experiencing, Scientific Thinking)

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI CORAL GABLES · 2022 · $270,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
The QUEST (Questioning, Understanding, Experiencing, and Scientific Thinking) project brings together
researchers and a youth development agency, serving economically disadvantaged minority youth, in an
innovative effort to engage elementary school aged minority children in science and address the national need
to cultivate diversity in preparing the next generation to meet the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research
needs of the United States.
This project is designed to capitalize on the inquisitiveness of children and their innate capacity as `natural
investigators.' The overall goal is to enhance underserved elementary students' science-related competencies,
to take advantage of opportunities that are interesting for them and relevant to their own health and wellness,
to motivate interest in science and health-related science careers, and nurture astute young consumers of
science who have acquired the skills to learn about science inside and outside the classroom. This will be
accomplished by developing and implementing a curriculum that starts with encouraging the science practice
of asking questions and will focus on the methods that allow children to answer those questions in a learning
environment that engages and stimulates them.
The specific objectives are 1) to develop a rich curriculum for 2nd-5th graders that promotes science-related
competencies and motivates interest in science and in health and wellness; 2) to increase students' knowledge
of science methods, improve their self-efficacy in learning science, stimulate curiosity, and increase awareness
of and interest in science and health career pathways; 3) to investigate in a randomized controlled trial the
extent that strategies designed to enhance science engagement and competencies by promoting asking
questions contribute to gains in elementary school students' knowledge of scientific concepts and methods,
self-efficacy, curiosity, and interest in science; and 4) to broadly disseminate the evaluated program results
and research findings to the global community of health researchers, informal science educators and formal
science educators, and the K-12 research community.
The evaluation plan will document the impact of the QUEST curriculum. The rigorous randomized
controlled trial will provide insight into strategies that best address the science education needs of
underrepresented minority children in their science and health-related quests.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10400754
- **Project number:** 5R25GM129812-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI CORAL GABLES
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrice Geralyn Saab
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $270,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-15 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10400754

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10400754, UQUEST (Questioning, Understanding, Experiencing, Scientific Thinking) (5R25GM129812-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10400754. Licensed CC0.

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