A summer course in cancer for high school students-an update on lessons taught and lessons learned
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Background
Previous graduate students and postdoctoral associates from the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, in partnership with the University of Florida Student Science Training Program, implemented a cooperative learning curriculum, providing high school students with a broad overview of cancer topics over six weeks over the summer. To address discussions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic on student autonomy, we report lessons learned and outcomes of a cancer biology and therapeutic curriculum modified for a collaborative learning environment.
Methods
This pre-post longitudinal observational study conducted in 2023 on a cancer biology and therapeutics course evaluated students’ knowledge retention and general awareness and opinions in cancer research. A structured survey was employed for data collection, using learning assessment surveys and the Likert scale ranging from 1 to 10, with 10 being highly likely.
Results
Student performance tracked over a 7-year period indicated consistency in performance between years. Post-assessment analysis revealed significant improvements in student benchmark understanding, notably in their ability to define cancer in one sentence ( p = 0.0407), identify cancer therapies ( p = 0.0040), and recognize cancer hallmarks ( p < 0.0001). An increased trend in median response to the likelihood of pursuing cancer research ( p = 0.8793) and the possibility of pursuing cancer research ( p = 0.4874) were also observed, although not statistically significant. Moreover, feedback from participating students indicated that “ the educational activities at the end of class (e.g. , escape room , case studies) ” and “ learning about cancer and getting to work in groups… ” the curriculum fostered a positive educational learning environment.
Conclusion
Students generally retained the course material presented and upheld a positive perception of the course. Incorporating opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, especially when introducing or discussing complex issues like cancer, may benefit student autotomy.
