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Who we are

Excellence in Science Education and Learning (ExSEL)

ExSEL is a five-week summer, basic science enrichment program for 20 gifted and talented high school seniors from the Cincinnati area. The course is held each summer at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The students spend 7 hours per day, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in structured classroom and laboratory settings with instruction and hands-on research activities from established researchers and their graduate student teaching assistants. The ExSEL program is divided into five one-week problem solving modules, focusing one week each on molecular genetics, cell biology, neuroscience, immunology and structural biology. Students are required to attend all five modules. Each week is taught by faculty of medical college assisted by research staff and graduate students Funding is provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The Immunology Module

Traditionally, the immunology module has been taught using a typical lecture/laboratory-based format. Student learning in previous years has been hampered by the students' resistance to this format during a time that they consider to be their summer vacation. In response to this, we set out to redesign the one-week immunology with the goal of developing a more interactive approach to the same material. With this goal in mind, the course was redesigned to follow a case-study based format.

Following a brief introduction to immunology, students were assigned to groups of four and given brief details of an ongoing infectious disease outbreak. Throughout the week, further details of the outbreak were provided as the situation developed. Short lectures and readings on basic immunological concepts were provided. The majority of the student's information about immunology and their specific outbreaks came in the form of guided laboratory experiments. Experiments applied basic immunology and microbiology concepts to learn about patient and environmental samples related to the outbreak. At the end of the week, groups were randomly assigned one of four audiences and asked to give a talk describing the outbreak, its causes, the rationale behind their chosen cause, the mode of transmission and suggestions for future prevention and control. Presentations were evaluated by both peers and instructors acting as the specified audience.

Important Notes

In the interest of safety, related, non-infectious organisms and non-human serum were substituted in all experiments. Organisms and samples were chosen as to give results comparable to those that would be found using actual samples. Please feel free to contact us for advice about specific samples.