The Rx for Science Literacy: The What, Where, How and Why of Health Science Research curriculum manual is designed for use by K–12 teachers in science and other subjects.
NCABR is delighted to unveil its 2026 edition of the Rx for Science Literacy curriculum manual, which now includes an updated and expanded regenerative medicine chapter.
Through a partnership with the Education and Training Office at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Regenerative Medicine Engine of North Carolina, NCABR’s curriculum team developed a new 134-page regenerative medicine chapter, which contains background information, lessons and activities about:
The 2026 regenerative medicine chapter is the only new feature in the Rx for Science Literacy manual, which NCABR comprehensively updated in 2021 with generous support from the Biogen Foundation.
The Rx for Science Literacy manual is a K-12 resource that is appropriate for educators in kindergarten through 12th grade, including Career and Technical Education instructors. The curriculum is bound in a three-ring binder with pages designed specifically for photocopying.
The manual features activities, including:
Rx for Science Literacy is the primary curriculum resource for the statewide Biomedical Technology course taught in North Carolina public high schools. It is filled with background information, handouts, lesson plans and activities on many topics, including the process, benefits and ethical considerations of biomedical research, the care and use of animals in medical science, and life science careers.
Rx for Science Literacy includes a curriculum crosswalk for science, English, social studies and technology teachers. It shows many of its possible connections to the North Carolina standards across many curricula areas, including the North Carolina Essential Standards for Science. The crosswalk includes connections to the Next Generation Science Standards.
The crosswalk mapped to the 2023 North Carolina Essential Standards for Science can be found here.
The manual also includes a reading guide that provides activities for using the reference materials in the manual as a way of integrating the Reading Standard for Informational Text from the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects into the science classroom.
For Middle and High School Educators
This supplemental curriculum manual of 190+ pages focuses on the wide range of career prospects offered by the fast-growing field of biomanufacturing. It’s the basis for Biotechnology Research and Careers, NCABR’s ongoing online professional development course for teachers from grades 6-12.
The manual was updated comprehensively in spring 2014 to reflect a North Carolina biotechnology and biomanufacturing landscape that has changed significantly since the manual’s initial publication, in 2006. Since the manual first was published, NCABR has held numerous day-long professional development workshops to introduce North Carolina teachers to the curriculum. Workshops have been held at Biogen, in Research Triangle Park; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, in Sanford; and North Carolina State University’s Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, in Raleigh.
As part of a 2008 national science curriculum conference, NCABR also held a workshop that featured the manual for teachers from 24 states. In all, more than 200 teachers have participated in a related workshop, and more than 500 copies of the manual have been distributed to teachers through Career and Technical Education programs of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
The Biogen Foundation and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center generously have provided funding to make Mapping Your Future possible.
Free Electronic Manual and supporting materials available below