Hutch Teacher Fellowship Curriculum Showcase #1

The Hutch Teacher Fellow Curriculum Showcase is a three part event with 1-hour virtual workshops on May 6th, 14th, and 19th. You can register to attend one or all three.

Participants in our Hutch Fellowship for Excellence in STEM Teaching (HTF) will share about their teacher-authored curriculum projects for high school science classes. Join us to see for this session to see how two HTF participants translated research experiences into classroom curriculum, get inspired by new ways to bring the topic of cancer into STEM classrooms, and learn more about the HTF program. 

Register

Session #1: H. Pylori and Gastric Cancer in HS Biotech and Physics Classes

Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 4:00-5:00 pm (Zoom). 

Presented by Maggie Lewis (Kamiak High School, Mukilteo, WA) and Elainea Kesler-Horan (Lincoln High School, Tacoma, WA).

Maggie Lewis: Stomach Cancer unit (8 lessons)

Course: HS Biotechnology and/or Honors/AP Biology (11th or 12th graders)

In this unit, students explore the relationship between Helicobacter pylori and stomach cancer by taking on the perspective of an intern helping to run a clinical trial at a gastroenterology clinic. Students are introduced to the unit through a patient with concerning symptoms who also has a family history of stomach cancer. This patient becomes one of the participants in the clinical trial. Students are tasked with gathering and analyzing data from the clinical trial comparing various samples and specimens from three different cohorts: patients with stomach cancer, patients with stomach ulcers, and patients who are otherwise healthy. The unit very heavily focuses on lab skills and practices, with students conducting various hands-on lab activities such as pH testing, ELISA, gel electrophoresis, PCR, SDS-PAGE protein gel electrophoresis and salinity testing. This unit is intended for use with 11th or 12th grade students in an advanced Biology class; however, the lessons within the unit are modular and, depending on a class’s needs, teachers may use their discretion about which lessons to use therefore making this unit also suitable for introductory high school Biology classes.

Elainea Kesler-Horan: Spinning into Action: Helicobacter Pylori's Rotational Mechanics & Community Health unit (7 lessons including STEAM for Justice project)

Course: HS Physics (adaptable for AP Physics)

Developed through the Hutch Teacher Fellowship program and grounded in the author's H. pylori research, this 5-week unit explores rotational mechanics through the lens of bacterial motion and community health disparities. Students learn circular motion, centripetal force, and angular velocity while analyzing real health equity data from peer-reviewed studies. They investigate how H. pylori's spiral shape enables infection and why infection rates are dramatically higher in BIPOC and low-income communities. Students culminate by designing evidence-based STEAM solutions to address injustices in their own communities. The unit includes full scaffolding for IEP/MLL students and AP extensions. Before participating, students should have completed introductory physics content on forces and motion.

Date:
Wednesday, May 06, 2026
Start Time:
4 p.m. PDT
Location:
Online

Zoom link will be sent after registration.

Contact Information:
sep@fredhutch.org
Audience:
Middle and High School Science Teachers