At Fred Hutch, we support engaging, challenging and relevant classroom learning experiences for all students by providing access to high-quality instructional materials developed by teachers and scientists. Our Intro to Cancer: Leukemia & Hina's Story Unit has received national recognition as a "Quality Example of NGSS Design" by the NextGenScience Peer Review Panel. SEP's free, open-source lessons and units are geared towards high school biotech and biology teachers and focus on giving students opportunities to explore biotechnology and the social dimensions of research science.
Cancer-Focused Units
Intro to Cancer: Leukemia & Hina's Story
Quality Example of NGSS Design
This storylined unit is intended for high school biology classes and designed for the Next Generation Science Standards. It focuses on the concepts of cell growth, cell cycle, and mutations by using cancer as the anchoring phenomenon. This unit investigates the case of Hina Marsey, an eleven-year old girl, who is diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Students have opportunities to collaborate in model building, discuss health inequities, and practice evidence-based argumentation.
Details
Intro Biology
10 Lesson Plans
Remote or In Classroom
Immunotherapy
This unit focuses on the topic of cancer, leukemia, and immunotherapies as a way to explore concepts such as the cell cycle, cell growth, the immune system, and genetic mutations. Over the seven lessons, students are introduced to a case study featuring Kristin K., a woman diagnosed with a treatment-resistant form of leukemia and for whom a stem cell donor match could not be found.
Details
Advanced Biology & Biotechnology
7 Lesson Plans
Remote or In Classroom
Illuminating Cancer with Cancer Fighting Proteins
This lesson set focuses on protein folding and structure/ function through a cancer storyline. Student investigate a patient named Cory, who has a brain tumor. They then learn how nature-sourced peptides are candidates for cancer treatments. Using toobers to model protein folding students build protein models.
Details
2 Lesson Plans
Elephants & Cancer
Elephants are the largest land mammals, with huge bodies that are made up of exponentially more cells than smaller organisms – cells that could mutate over their long lifespan. And yet, elephants rarely get cancer. This is thought to be due in part to their extra TP53 tumor suppressor genes, which code for the p53 protein. Through a comparison of elephants, humans, and four other organisms, students learn why elephants’ genetic makeup makes them less susceptible to cancer. Includes a gel electrophoresis lab.
Details
Intro Biology, Advanced Biology, AP Biology
4 Lessons
Remote or In Classroom
Science & Society Units
Elephant Conservation: Ivory Cache
Students follow a storyline that highlights both scientific and sociopolitical aspects of the elephant poaching problem. Students also become detectives, using gel electrophoresis to determine the source of a mock illegal ivory cache. This unit culminates in a stakeholder discussion and student proposals for solutions to poaching that demonstrate consideration for the needs of various stakeholders.
Details
12 Lessons
Remote or In Classroom
Kits needed to teach unit:
Gel Electrophoresis Kit
Elephant Trunk Accessory Kit
Investigating Human Genetic Variation (RRG)
In these lessons, students explore the history of how human populations have been categorized and how those ideas have evolved over time. They examine how scientific research, particularly in genetics, shows that human variation is complex and does not support fixed biological groupings. Students also consider how long-standing social structures and differences in lived experience can affect access to resources, including in healthcare. Through interdisciplinary study, students learn to analyze both the scientific and societal dimensions of human diversity.
Details
10 Lessons
Remote or In Classroom
DNA Exonerations
This unit uses multiple real DNA exoneration case studies as a way for students to explore modern day forensics, the criminal legal system, and mass incarceration in the U.S.
Details
7 Lessons
Remote or In Classroom
Kits needed to teach unit:
Gel Electrophoresis Kit
mRNA Vaccines & COVID-19 Testing
In these two lesson sequences, students explore phenomena associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vaccine Confidence lessons provide an opportunity to introduce or reinforce the concept of central dogma while having students explore what vaccines do and how they protect our communities. In the COVID-19 Testing lessons, students learn about the various testing methods for COVID-19 (PCR and antigen testing) through case studies and evaluate bioethical concerns related to the pandemic.
Details
3 Lessons - mRNA Vaccine Confidence
7 Lessons - COVID-19 Testing and Inequities
Remote or In Classroom
Research Technique Driven Units
A Twist on Strawberry DNA Extraction
This lesson challenges students to design their own experimental protocol to extract DNA from strawberries. By developing their own protocol and presenting their findings in a lab meeting, students learn the importance of making claims with evidence and reasoning and communicating those claims.
Details
1 Lesson
Remote or In Classroom
Supportining Kits:
DNA Extraction Kit
Building Lab Skills
This page contains all of the classic SEP lessons around biotechnology tools and techniques.
Including various lessons on:
- Micropipetting
- Gel Electrophoresis
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)
- Chromotography
- Bacterial Transformation
Taster PCR
In this lesson, students will predict their phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) Taster Gene status using a bitter food quiz and analyze their own DNA from cheek cells for the presence of the TAS2R38 gene variant that make them able to taste bitterness.
Details
1 Lesson Plan
Kits needed to teach unit:
PCR Kit
Gel Electrophoresis Kit
Distinguishing Invasive vs. Local Mussels through DNA Analysis (Draft)
In the Mussel PCR Lab, students identify native and non-native saltwater mussel species using genomic techniques to answer: How can we distinguish between invasive and local species? They learn how invasive species threaten biodiversity, particularly in marine environments. Students practice key lab skills, including micropipetting, tissue sampling, DNA isolation, PCR, and gel electrophoresis. This is a draft curriculum unit still in development.
Details
- Intro Biology, Advanced Biology, AP Biology, Biotechnology
- AP Environmental Science, Ecology
- 4 Lesson Plans
- In Classroom
yEvo - Fitness Competition/ Yeast Madness
yEvo is an authentic research experience designed for high school students to observe the process of evolution in their classrooms using yeast as a model organism. This project was created by the Dunham Lab at University of Washington Genome Sciences. SEP is currently supporting yEvo's Azole Resistance Module 4: Fitness Competition/ Yeast Madness.
Details
1 Lesson
Related Pages
Careers in Cancer Research & Patient Care
Explore career profiles written specifically for high school students featuring real people working in fields related to cancer research, cancer treatment, and patient care. Their stories represent a variety of career and educational pathways, diverse backgrounds, and various career stages. Be sure to check out the college and career planning resource at the end of the page for helpful information
Productive Uncertainty
Uncertainty is the experience of being unsure. When managed productively, it can be a powerful motivator in the learning process and encourage students to identify gaps in their understanding, develop solutions, and gain deeper insights into their own thinking processes.
This is a collection of resources, lessons, and articles around productive uncertainty in the classroom.
Kit Loan Program & Supplies
Program participants have access to the Kit Loan Program developed and maintained by SEP. Fred Hutch and other funders provide these kits to teachers, free of cost. These kits offer SEP teachers the opportunity to share hands-on laboratory experiences with students, giving students a unique chance to engage in an authentic, problem-solving approach to science using the same tools and concepts utilized by researchers.
SEP Teacher Sharing
We have set up a Google folder for teachers to share resources.
- The Google folder contains a several subfolders on SEP kit-related topics shared by SEP teachers. There is also a subfolder on CRISPR resources, videos, and lessons.
- Create new folders to add other resources you'd like to share but model the general structure in the CRISPR folder (for example, articles and videos are probably easiest to share in a hyperlinked document and SEP Teacher Lessons in their own folder).
- Indicate your name on any lessons that you have developed.
Teaching Tools/Resources
Compiled resources for teaching science virtually and argumentation and discourse strategies for the science classroom.