CARES4You

In brief, the curriculum will consist of six units, each taught by the school’s primary science teachers, who will be trained and supported in delivering the curriculum in a standardized way. Each unit will incorporate the concept of cancer prevention as a social justice and include inquiry questions, classroom, household activities, and a career development exercise. Students will also have the opportunity to design a social justice project, and participate in out of school activities to explore STEM based careers at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Cancer Center in NYC and its university campus in Ithaca, New York.

OUR AIMS:

Tailor a six-unit cancer education curriculum to the environmental and socio-cultural factors relevant to cancer risk in each of the four target neighborhoods.
Train science teachers on the curriculum across 10 New York City Department of Education public middle schools in the four target neighborhoods
Evaluate the impact of the curriculum on: a) increasing students' intention to engage in health-promoting behaviors and b) initiating cancer risk communication in the household
Evaluate the relationship between cancer risk communication in the home and changes in the health-promoting behaviors of caregivers

CAncer Risk Education in Schools for Youth and Families (CARES4You) is a project led by a group of scientists from Cornell and Columbia University who will collaborate closely with science teachers working in New York City public middle schools, middle school students, and their respective caregivers to develop a culturally relevant and impactful science curriculum that may lower the rates of future cancer development in four specific New York City communities. The project also aims to empower students to be voices of social change in their communities while introducing them to future STEM-based careers. Middle schools in Central Brooklyn, Western Queens, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx will be eligible to participate. This project was nationally reviewed by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institute of Health and was found to be highly innovative. The national reviewers were excited by the project’s goal to collaborate with middle school science teachers, who they stated are “community gems who can contribute to cancer control in a meaningful way.”