Undergraduate Educators

Toxicology Learning Framework

With the goal of producing useful resources for educators to encourage students along the pathway to graduate school and careers in toxicology, the SOT Education Committee's Undergraduate Subcommittee established a work group to develop learning objectives for undergraduate toxicology courses. Publication of the resulting framework will facilitate the development and sharing of evidenced-based teaching materials for toxicology educators throughout the world and expand toxicology’s impact to a broader audience. This framework supports the NSF AAAS Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology recommendations for student-centered learning that reflect the process of science, topics connected to the lives of students, and what we know about effective learning practices.

The toxicology learning objectives echo the core Vision and Change concepts, which are evolution; pathways and transformations of energy and matter; information flow, exchange, and storage; structure and function; and systems. Toxicology learning objectives will provide guidance for faculty teaching toxicology in a basic undergraduate toxicology course as well as in other courses, and exclude examples and case study references. After reviewing course syllabi and textbooks, the group proposed these five core toxicology concepts: evolution; pathways and transformations of energy and matter; systems toxicology; biological information; and risk assessment. In addition, learning objectives were determined and additional detail outlined for each, such that there are four levels of detail. Publication of this framework alongside those of the other major life science disciplines (CourseSource, LifeSciTRC) will facilitate the development and sharing of evidenced-based teaching materials for toxicology educators throughout the world and expand toxicology’s impact to a broader audience.

Toxicology Learning Resources

These toxicology learning resources are free and available for use in formal and informal education and by independent learners. Written for undergraduates and those with a basic knowledge of biology and chemistry, the resources include:

Principles of Toxicology: ToxTutor

Master basic toxicology concepts by reviewing ToxTutor, which is presented in four parts.
 

Modules

Dive more deeply into specific areas, including applied systems toxicology, biochemistry, developmental and reproductive toxicology, environmental exposures, genetics, neurotoxicology, pathophysiology, and reproducibility and rigor in experimental toxicology.

Case Studies

Examine specific topics in toxicology, including aflatoxin, arsenic, ethanol, forever chemicals, lead, pesticides, regulatory toxicology, and vaping.

Learners earn a certificate for successfully completing each module and case study.

The Society of Toxicology was the lead partner for developing these curriculum materials for the Toxicology Mentoring and Skills Development Training program (NIH 1R25GM139200).