August 5, 2016
COE grant educates students on the science of drug abuse
The Science Education Against Drug Abuse Partnership (SEADAP) program aims to expose students from 6th through 12th grade to the real-world applications of the scientific method in order to teach them about drug addiction.
Now in its third year, the SEADAP program continues to implement hands-on curriculum educating students about the science of drug addiction and the adverse effects of widely abused substances while exposing students in research activities to increase their interest in STEM careers.
Students are led in the design of their own experiments on planaria, a type of flatworm, with 
nicotine, alcohol, and sucrose solutions to conduct investigations from lab manuals that specifically address the National Science Education Standards & Common Core, while building partnerships with medical scientists, addiction specialists and professional educators, to educate the general public about drug abuse.
ECU recently hosted a group of educators from Pitt, Martin and Lenoir county public schools, continuing to expand the SEADAP program into North Carolina’s STEM curriculum.
ECU is collaborating with Temple University on this project. Dr. Scott Rawls of Temple is the co- principal investigator, and Dr. Rhea Miles of ECU is the co-principal investigator.
Teachers will be working with high school students from Pitt, Martin, and Lenoir counties to conduct research investigations at ECU to study the effect of nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and sucrose on planaria under the direction of Miles in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Instructional Technology Education in the College of Education.
Teachers will also work with students to study the effects of drug addiction on flatworms through the SEADAP grant.
For more information on the SEADAP Program contact Dr. Rhea Miles at 252-328-9366 or milesr@ecu.edu.