Nowgen presented at the Annual Meeting for the European Society of Human Genetics, June 12 – 15 2010:
The Nowgen Schools Genomics Programme: Influencing how genetics is taught in UK secondary schools
Dr Leah Holmes from Nowgen gave this talk as part of an education workshop at ESHG and this was also presented as a poster. There was lots of interest from the audience and shared views that genetics education and professional training needs to incorporate contemporary research including genome-wide approaches to understanding common and complex disease. Nowgen hopes to work with the ESHG and the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) towards this shared goal.
Influencing how genetics is taught in UK secondary schools: The Nowgen Schools Genomics Programme
Holmes LE1,2, Finegold P1, Starling I 1,2, Dack K 1,2, Hall A 3, Worthington J 1, Harris J 1, Read AP 1, Middleton Price HR1,2, Donnai D1,2
1Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
2Nowgen – A Centre for Genetics in Healthcare, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
3 Nuffield Foundation, London, UK
Current research in human genomics has great potential for sparking interest amongst secondary school students, yet it is not prominent in UK school curricula. The Nowgen Schools Genomics Programme aims to redress that situation; narrowing the gap between genomics research and classroom genetics.
The genetics content of UK school curricula currently concentrates on ‘single-gene’ genetics with few references to more recent approaches exploring the human genome. Funded by a three-year grant from The Wellcome Trust, the Nowgen Schools Genomics Programme brings together leading scientists, clinicians, educationalists and bioethicists to contribute to a range of approaches designed to equip young people to assess the real potential of genomics, and to make informed decisions about future healthcare. The programme will introduce genome-wide association studies, pharmacogenetics and genetic medicine to teachers and their students, and will support them to:
explore genetic and lifestyle contributions to disease;
consider the methodological challenges contemporary large population studies require;
examine the social and ethical challenges to society;
explore the potential impact of data arising from contemporary genetics.
