Using Focus Groups to Assess the Impact of Environmental Health Science Programs for K-12 Educational Community

You are being asked to give your child permission to take part in a focus group to talk about what he or she has learned over the past year. Your child's school and other schools in the area have been working with a program called the Models of Implementation and Dissemination of Environmental Health and Science Across Subjects (MIDAS) Project. The MIDAS Project was developed by The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Smithville, TX.

Purpose:

Students will be asked to share about the topics that they learned about over the past year, including their field trip experiences. Participation in the focus group is strictly voluntary, and your child may or may not choose to take part. This focus group will not be graded, and your child's name will not be recorded with his or her responses. If your child chooses not to participate in this focus group, he or she will not be penalized in any way.

Inclusion criteria

• Students must be in one of the identified classes in one of the participating grades from one of the participating schools.
• Students must return a completed and signed parental consent form.
• Students must be present at school on the day that the focus groups are conducted.

Exclusion criteria

• Students whose parents did not complete the consent form, and/or students who do not wish to participate can opt out of the focus groups without any penalty.