Stealth learning - keep students glued to Science

A DUKE university pharmacology professor has devised a novel method of making science education more interesting for high school students.

Rochelle Schwartz-Bloom, who left lab bench to focus on science, education, claims that she and her colleagues have so far boosted the basic science knowledge of 7,210 high school students by 16 percent.

She revealed that they did so by conducting a national experiment, wherein they taught high school teachers across the US to incorporate drug-related topics into biology and chemistry.

I call it “Stealth learning “. The student is having fun picking up facts about things they are interested in. But at the same time they are actually learning basic principles about science.” She said in an interview.
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Allergy is a major factor in asthma: Study

Recently there is a study on ASTHMA and according to the researchers at NIH, National Institute of Health has found further evidence to support the theory that allergy is a major.

Factor in Asthma

The study was conducted by researchers led by Darry C Zeldin and who are a senior investigator at the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences and Peter Gergen, M.D, M.P.H, of NIAID Division of Allergy Immunology and Transplantation.

Dr. Zeldin said that the new research showed that 56.3 percent of Asthma cases attributed to ATOPY, a condition that resulted from gene-environment interactions and can be measured by a positive skin test to allergies.

“It has long been debated whether people who develop Asthma have a genetic propensity to develop allergies, or atop .This new research shows that 56.3 percent of Asthma cases are attributed to atopy.”

Zeldin and his team pointed out that from the study it was found that CAT ALLERGY was one of the major causes for asthma.

“Sensitization to cat appears to be a strong risk factor for asthma in this study. We are not advocating parents get rid of pets, but if you suspect that you or your child might have cat allergies or get asthmatic-like symptoms, you should consult that exposure to cats, particularly early in life, may be a protective factor against with a physician about the best course of action for your family.” Zeldin said.
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