Cancer Biology and You: An Interactive Learning Event for Native American High School Students to Increase Their Understanding of Cancer Causes, Prevention, and Treatment, and to Foster an Interest in Cancer-Related Careers.

Connor Branick,Joyce C Solheim,Kim Soper,Liliana P Bronner,Maurice Godfrey,Misty S Pocwierz-Gaines,Regina E Robbins,Robert W Pawloski,Shrawan Kumar,Tyler A Herek

doi:10.15695/jstem/v2i1.16

Abstract

The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have made a compelling call to action not only to strengthen the pipeline of available STEM-trained talent, but in addition to foster students who are members of populations currently under-represented in science. Furthermore, the scientific community must not only increase the accessibility of STEM-related education, but also implement and test evidence-based practices. Presented here, we detail the proceedings of a hands-on, science-focused informal learning opportunity aimed at educating an underrepresented population in cancer biology. Fifteen undergraduate and graduate student volunteer instructors from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medical Center engaged with 89 high school students, mostly Native American, in an informal learning event called "Cancer Biology and You Day." Throughout the event, students completed two independent lessons focusing on breast cancer and skin cancer and demonstrated strong learning gains associated with the lessons as assessed by KWL charts. Exit surveys of the students indicated high levels of satisfaction with the event, and positive attitudes associated with considering a career in science/research were evident in survey responses. Overall, we report the event as a success and outline how similar experiences may be achieved.

Highlights

Science learning and instruction are dynamic practices that can take place in a formal, traditional classroom setting, as well as in an informal, out-of-school setting (Hofstein and Rosenfeld, 1996; National Research Council, 2007)
We present findings from a University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Program hands-on, cancer-focused informal learning opportunity aimed at serving Native American high school students
One of the graduate students was an M.S. student in the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Biology Department, and the other nine were Ph.D. students at the UNMC Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center (n = 9). These volunteers were recruited to participate by UNO and UNMC faculty members via targeted email invitations sent to students in the UNO Native American Health and Wellness course and the UNMC Cancer Research Ph.D

Summary

Introduction

Science learning and instruction are dynamic practices that can take place in a formal, traditional classroom setting, as well as in an informal, out-of-school setting (Hofstein and Rosenfeld, 1996; National Research Council, 2007). As in practice today, it is still evident that much of the formal learning setting revolves around the isolated ingestion of facts, in what has been described as a “spectator sport” (Tinto, 2003), where students are passively involved in watching instructors give presentations wherein little-to-no engagement is necessary or required. This disconnect creates a culture in which students do not feel as though they have ownership or agency over their learning and causes the disenfranchisement of students whose education would be better facilitated with group-style learning (Freeman et al, 2014). Students have been reported to positively value peer-peer interactions, with this finding being stronger for groups who are at this time under-represented in the sciences (Lopatto, 2004; Chang et al, 2014)

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Conclusion