Office of Science Education

OSE

The Office of Science Education (OSE) of the United States National Institutes of Health plans, develops, and coordinates a comprehensive science education program to strengthen and enhance efforts of the NIH to attract young people to biomedical and behavioral science careers and to improve science literacy in both adults and children.

NIH Curriculum Supplements

High School Curriculum Supplements

The NIH Curriculum Supplement Series are interactive teaching units that combine cutting-edge science research discoveries from the National Institutes of Health. Each supplement was developed in collaboration with one or more divisions within NIH, a professional curriculum development company, and OSE. A curriculum supplement is a teacher’s guide to one-to-two weeks’ worth of lesson plans and student activities on science and human health.

There are 17 curriculum supplements currently available online and in hard copy by request. Over 250,000 copies of supplements have been requested by classroom teachers, health professionals, curriculum specialists, university professors, and others from across the US and the world.

High School

• Cell Biology and Cancer (NCI)
• Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
• Human Genetic Variation (NHGRI)
• The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology Through the Study of Addiction (NIDA)
• Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms (NHLBI)
• Using Technology to Study Cellular and Molecular Biology (NCRR)
• Exploring Bioethics (NIH Clinical Center Department of Bioethics)

Middle School

• The Science of Healthy Behaviors (NINR and OBSSR)
• Doing Science: The Process of Scientific Inquiry (NIGMS)
• Looking Good, Feeling Good: From the Inside Out - Exploring Bone, Muscle, and Skin (NIAMS)
• The Science of Mental Illness (NIMH)
• Chemicals, the Environment, and You: Explorations in Science and Human Health (NIEHS)
• How Your Brain Understands What Your Ear Hears (NIDCD)
• The Brain: Our Sense of Self (NINDS)
• The Science of Energy Balance: Calorie Intake and Physical Activity (NIDDK)
• Understanding Alcohol: Investigations into Biology and Behavior (NIAAA)

Elementary School

• Open Wide and Trek Inside! (NIDCR) (Available in English and Spanish)

Career Resources

OSE has developed several ways to provide career resource information to students, educators, guidance counselors, and parents.

LifeWorks Career Database

LifeWorks is an interactive health and medical science career exploration web site for middle and high school students, parents, mentors, advisors, and guidance counselors. Users can browse for information on more than 125 medical science and health careers by title, education required, interest area, or median salary. Alternatively, the "Career Finder" can be used to generate a customized list of careers especially suited for users' skills and interests. LifeWorks promotes awareness of the wide variety of occupations in health and medical sciences and the range of opportunities at different education levels. The site complements its factual career data by highlighting true stories of successful people. They illustrate the variety of real-life career pathways, from the carefully planned to the unpredictable.