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It is estimated that in Mexico 128 thousand cases of cancer are diagnosed each year; thus, 350 cases per day or 14.5 per hour. It’s projected that this number will be doubled by 2030 and will reach about 244 thousand new cases of cancer. 78 thousand people die every year, which means that every 7 minutes someone dies in México because of cancer [1].

<figure> <a href="" data-lightbox="Photo 1" data-title="Photo 1"><img class="img img-responsive" style="margin:0px auto;display:block width:20%;" src=""></a> </figure>

Cancer mortality can be reduced with effective awareness campaigns: an example in México is the cervical-uterine cancer. From 1998 to 2010 an effort was made by the government and civil associations to prevent and provide effective treatments for this type of cancer. Because of this, mortality from cervical-uterine cancer was reduced by 13%. This is attributed mainly to awareness campaigns all over the country, the adoption of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and the implementation of early detection programs. Another example of an effective awareness campaign is the one that was made since 2005 in México to reduce lung cancer, which managed to reduce mortality by 8% in just 5 years [2].

As a result, the team became aware that one of the biggest problems that México has, is its deficiency in basic education. Average schooling is 8.6 years, which means that most Mexicans don’t graduate from high school [3]. According to the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test, México is the worst country in the OCDE for its quality in basic education and is in the 53th place among 65 countries evaluated [4]. A key element to consider is the difference between private and public education.According to Mexican programs for evaluation of basic education like ENLACE or EXCALE, 9 in 10 private schools are above the average level of public schools. The difference is more visible in the slums that surrounding the big cities or in rural schools [5].

Since it is expected for the number of cancer cases will double in the next 15 years, our team considers that the best way to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer in México is through awareness and understanding of the disease and its causes. This will be a big problem to future generations and given that the average mexican won’t graduate from high school, we believe the best way to address this problem is to teach kids attending 5th and 6th grade of primary school (between 10 and 12 years old) the causes and characteristics of tumorous cancer.

For this, we decided to work with 27 children of 5th and 6th grade from the primary school Jesús Julián Llaguno in the community of San Gilberto, Santa Catarina, N.L. México. This school is located in a marginalized and low income urban area of the city of Monterrey. The neighborhood is known as a violent place, filled with criminals and drug dealers, which affects the daily life of families and the entire community. We chose to work in this primary school because it represents a marginalized social stratum with many short-comings, and if we see positive results in this area it means that these results can also be achieved in other elementary schools in México.

The first question we asked ourselves to solve this problem is what can we do to improve the prevention and awareness of cancer in 5th and 6th grade children? According to the syllabus of primary education set by the SEP (Ministry of Mexican Education), in fifth grade children should know the basics about DNA, heredity, cells, tissues, organs, body systems such as the immune system, unicellular organisms, among other things which would be essential for the understanding of cancer. However, we needed to consider that because of the poor performance of basic education in these marginal schools, the kids may not have even have that basic knowledge. How can we teach them basic human biology in a simple way so they can understand the biology of cancer?

To address these questions, we developed a test by which to determine if the kids have basic knowledge of human biology and a notion about cancer. The test consisted in two parts, the first one asked whether they had heard of some words related to cancer and its biology, the second part was to associate the concepts with their definitions. After the exam we talked and played with the children to know more about them and asked them about the things they know about biology, the way they perceive school, the things they like, and their role models, among other things.

The test showed that most of the children had heard of concepts related to cancer; however, they had many problems relating the concepts with their definitions. After reviewing the tests, a strategy was defined to be followed according to the results and perception we had from the time we talked to them. The idea was to implement a strategy to fill those gaps of knowledge and administer another test to the kids to assess whether the strategy was effective.

<figure> <a href="" data-lightbox="Graphic 1" data-title="Figure 1. Part 1 of the initial test. Have you ever heard the word? "><img class="img img-responsive" style="margin:0px auto;display:block width:20%;" src=""></a>

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<figure> <a href="" data-lightbox="Graphic 2" data-title="Figure 2. Part 2 of initial test. Relate the concept with its definition."><img class="img img-responsive" style="margin:0px auto;display:block width:20%;" src=""></a>

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Another key element that helped us to set the strategy was to talk with the kids. Most of them knew about cancer because they had a family member with the disease or a friend of the family and they heard about it at home. They knew nothing about the causes or what “cancer” really means; they didn’t see a connection between the knowledge they get in school and any kind of disease; they didn´t have much interest in school and thought of it as a waste of time. Their role models were characters from television or movies and in some cases their parents or close relatives, because most of them wanted to be chefs (like Ratatouille), cowboys (because of Toy Story), soccer players or gardeners, taxi drivers or blacksmiths, etc. (because of their parents) when they grow up.

We think that the kids’ knowledge about basic biology and cancer is so deficient not only because of the low quality of their school, but also, because of the environment in which they develop. There are few good role models who encourage them to focus in school and keep studying until they graduate from university. That community in general has a very low level of education and there is no initiative that allows them to have access to basic information about their health and prevention of any kind of disease. Because of this lack of education and information, people have a lot of prejudices against science and some applications of biotechnology such as vaccines.

With all this information the team realized that the best way to get the kids to understand about cancer was by doing an animated video in which we could give a simple and short explanation about what is it and how it works. We also thought that was a good idea to include some videos of us at the lab and explain with the cartoons from our project, so they could relate to us and realize that they can be scientists when they grow up, and that they can do a lot to help to improve their community through science.

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