It was a typical Tuesday night Zoom call with a perhaps unconventional pairing: middle school teachers listened as Elizabeth Yeh, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the IU School of Medicine, discussed her innovative research on breast cancer. She spoke about how normal cells become cancer cells, stirring a discussion on how Yeh’s work could align with the teachers’ curriculum. 

The discussion was part of Goal 1 for the Educational Pathways to Cancer Research project, focused on connecting participating middle-level teachers with cancer researchers and, ultimately, having them work together to co-design and implement lessons that help students pursue careers in cancer research. The project, a partnership between the IU School of Education working with the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center (IUSCCC), has a big goal: provide cancer research pathways for students from underrepresented populations in a manner that ultimately increases the quantity of and diversity within the biomedical workforce.

The first step in achieving that is exposing students to those pathways in middle school, when they’re still thinking about their future careers.

“Our ultimate objective is to increase middle-level students’ sense of ability and efficacy in cancer research,” said Gayle Buck, Professor and Academic Director for P12 Engagement and multi-PI of the project.

After a kickoff meeting late last year, the current cohort of teachers will hear from several researchers, each focusing on a different topic in cancer research. Those teachers will then learn how to translate that in the middle school science classroom through classroom-ready, hands-on lessons that teach science and engineering practices.

“The cancer researchers are increasingly cognizant of the idea that they need to communicate their research to broader audiences,” Adam Scribner, Director of STEM Education initiatives, said. “I think there will be bidirectional benefits. Initially it will be teachers that will benefit greatly but I think the researchers are ultimately going to benefit by learning about ways to better communicate their science.”

Harikrishna Nakshatri, Marion J Morrison Professor of Breast Cancer Research and PI with Buck on the project, said pairing with the School of Education was an easy decision.

“IUSCCC wants to expand its outreach starting with middle schools with a goal of including cancer as a topic in K12 biology curriculum,” Nakshatri said. “While IUSCCC can provide laboratory research experience to high school students and teachers, IUSCCC faculty and researchers have limited experience in influencing curriculum changes at K12 levels. Therefore, the School of Education is an ideal partner to achieve this goal.”

The project will last for a total of five years, with a goal of bringing in 45 middle school teachers - and through them, reaching hundreds of students, some of whom will ultimately become future cancer researchers.