Medical & Cancer STEM Programs: Do not Fear, Hybrid-Model is Here!
Fall 2021 marks the seventh semester of the Medical STEM Program at USC’s Joint Educational Project (JEP). Since the start of 2018, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC) has supported the integration of cancer education curriculum with second-grade classrooms in South LA through the Medical STEM Program (MSP), which is a component of USC NCCC’s Cancer-STEM Education Partnership Program (C-SEPP) led by Prof. W. Martin Kast. MSP is under the directorship of Dr. Dieuwertje Kast as a part of the STEM Education Programs at JEP.
After a full year of virtual programming due to COVID-19, this semester saw MSP transition into a hybrid model of instruction for the first time. While LAUSD has resumed in-person learning, JEP made the decision to keep all MSP Teaching Assistants’ (TA) interactions with their students virtual in order to best protect the safety of both students and our TAs. Over the summer, Interim Director Jessica Stellmann (who served as Dr. Kast’s coverage during her maternity leave), along with an undergraduate volunteer, Blanca Diaz, assembled four classrooms’ worth of individual student supply kits which Jessica delivered to MSP’s partner teachers in September. Each week of instruction during the semester, the MSP TAs joined a zoom call with their assigned class, and their students would participate in the lesson from their LAUSD Chromebooks. While the students were all together in their classroom, and the TA was remote, everyone was able to be together with access to all of the materials needed for MSP’s hands-on curriculum!
Another first for MSP this semester was extending the program to include a 2nd grade classroom at 32nd St. School. We are extremely grateful to Mrs. Feldman and Ms. Mooring at 32nd St. for welcoming our MSP team into their LAUSD Classroom. We were also excited to once again be welcomed by Ms. Robles and Mr. Nakama at Vermont Ave. Elementary.
The hybrid model of teaching has been full of joy but it has also been an immense learning experience for C-SEPP’s MSP team and our partner educators. Teachers participating in our program this semester were more involved than ever, working closely with their assigned TA and stepping in to distribute supplies and help their students in the classroom, as well as maintaining a safe space for students to explore and ask questions of their TA. With the amazing support of our partner teachers, we were able to conduct hands-on experiments despite our MSP team not being in the class with the students in person. We cannot thank them enough!
The MSP Curriculum for Fall 2021 included our units on Oncology, Nutrition, and Genetics. These units and the lessons they include have been taught in previous years; the TA team did a wonderful job of drawing on this past experience when adapting them for the new hybrid model. The semester included some of the teams’ favorite activities including cell division with play-doh (Oncology unit), making a balanced meal with stickers (Nutrition) and building a model of DNA using toothpicks and gummy bears (Genetics). As you can see in the pictures presented with this update, the students thought these experiments were a hit too!
Along with these tried and true activities, the MSP team also added an element of gamification (making learning into a game) into some of our units this semester. Using the lessons learned from the fully virtual Fall 2020 semester, MSP TA, Haig Manoukian, developed card games to use during the Traits and Traditions lesson, as well as a wrap-up Jeopardy-style trivia game. These games kept the kids engaged, learning, and having fun with their classmates.
Despite the challenges of teaching in this hybrid format, the MSP TA team was able to deliver on the goal of our program, to cultivate excitement and curiosity about medical science and technology in their students. One of our partner teachers, Mr. Nakama of Vermont Ave. Elementary, had this to say about the program: “[MSP] is awesome because it is a place where students can learn about science in an environment that invites [them] to think, explore, and ask questions without the consequence of being penalized. I was amazed at how many questions my students asked this semester. It tells me that they were thinking and that they were engaged in the lessons.”
During the final week of instruction for the semester, each of the MSP classrooms was visited (via Zoom) by a medical STEM professional who shared about themselves, their path through life and their work with our students. Our thanks to DJ Fernandez (Ph.D. Candidate, USC Norris Cancer Center), Jaime Decker (CEO & Founder, Experience Anatomy), and Dr. Ghecemy Lopez (Cancer Survivor & Program Manager, USC Norris Cancer Center Community Outreach and Engagement) for volunteering their time to visit with our students!