Students learn about cancer (what is it?) and the cell cycle by studying the ways in which food toxins may lead to cancer by disrupting normal cell cycle mechanisms.

Topic: Fungi, aflatoxins, and cancer

Developer: Priscilla Van Wynsberghe

Primary Learning Goals

• Understand what cancer is
• Understand the function of p53 in the cell cycle and why it is commonly associated with human cancer
• Gain insight into the scientific process by using the available data to decide if aflatoxin-contaminated peanut butter causes cancer
• Connect the concepts of cell growth and cancer to intracellular pathways of the central dogma

Secondary Learning Goals

• Enhance understanding of the scientific method and the difference between causation and correlation
• Enhance communication and group work skills

Diversity

• Reading peanut files on their own time at their own pace
• Mini-lecture about the material
• Pair work and discussions about questions related to mini-lectures
• Group work generating concept maps
• Individual write-up at the end of class

Scientific Teaching Themes

• Active learning methods like group work, concept map generation, experimental design, and class discussions are integral parts of this lecture
• Exploration of the scientific process by experimental design and data analysis

Active Learning

• Small group work to design concept maps
• Class discussions of small group work

Assessment

• Pre-quiz – assess prior knowledge and misconceptions
• Group work & class discussions – assess understanding
• Homework – assess student learning, assign grades