• Our program has faced challenges during the past several years in implementing an effective evaluation program. We tried to contract with University faculty members, staff members at other institutions, and private evaluation firms, all of which fell through before any evaluation work took place. We also hired an on-staff evaluator for a year, who did not fulfill our needs. Finally, in March 2004, we contracted with the Center for Research and Evaluation at the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. They have implemented evaluation of all of our teacher professional development programs and begun formal field testing of our curriculum modules (we were not able to test any of the HHMI-funded basic genetics materials this year since teachers had already taught their genetics units).
• Our program has faced a challenge this past year in hiring a new Education Specialist. Our current Education Specialist, who is an experienced secondary life science teacher, was on maternity leave for three months and then returned to work half time. An analysis of our program¿s needs showed that we could use another full-time person in this position. We were looking for someone who had at least undergraduate-level coursework in biology, had several years of experience teaching secondary-level life science, could write well, and who lived in the Salt Lake City area or was willing to move here. Despite advertising nationally, we did not receive applications from candidates who met all of the above qualifications. We therefore had to reconsider our requirements. We recently hired two people with M.S. degrees in biology, experience teaching at the non-majors undergraduate level, and who each wanted to work part-time due to having young children at home. To assist them in learning about working with and writing for secondary-level students, we plan to have them observe in the classrooms of master teachers, receive mentoring from our current Education Specialist and co-teach programs with her.

• "Genetics in the 21st Century: A Conference for Life Science Educators" Genetics is permeating many fields in science and changing the face of modern medicine. Knowledge of this fast-paced and rapidly expanding field is a must for you and your students now and in the years to come. Bring your knowledge of genetics up to date and learn about current and future applications of genetics. Go home with exciting, hands-on and interactive activities for the classroom that you and your students will love! The Genetics in the 21st Century Conference will be held November 30 and December 1, 2004 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Visit http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/teachders/courses/ for more information and registration.
• Are you looking for engaging curriculum materials on which to build a genetics unit? The Genetic Science Learning Center website (http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu) offers animated and interactive online activities, many of which incorporate self-tests. Topics covered include DNA structure and function, genetic disorders, stem cell research, cloning, gene therapy and more! Companion Print-and-Go¿ classroom activities include complete teaching instructions and student activity pages (http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/teachers/).

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