Breast and Testicular Cancer
Simulated Self-Exams

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Introduction
Advance Preparation
Teacher's Notes on the Lesson
Useful Web Sites
Relevant National Science Education Standards
Relevant New Jersey State Science Education Standards

Introduction

The procedure is adapted from the Health Science Curriculum Online developed for the National Institutes of Health with Support from the Office of Research on Women's Health. For the complete curriculum, see NIH's site Health Science Curriculum Online.

Note that this activity does not appear in the Student version of this module. Should you decide to carry out this activity, print out copies of the student version and hand them out to the class. You should regard with caution any discussion in a secondary school classroom involving breasts and testes. Whether you include the activity depends on the maturity of the students in your class.

However, weigh against the sensitive nature of the topic the need to provide information that allows individuals to be responsible for their own health. In this module, especially in the sections on prevention, one of the objectives is to make students aware of what they can do to protect their own health and to provide information upon which they can act. In addition, this activity is a logical extension of the more general lab simulation in this module on detecting cancer (see "Detecting the Unseen"). And it requires a type of observation—tactile—not often used in science classes. Viewed in this light, the activity is a variation on classic "black box" exercises.

This activity also stresses the idea of early detection. Both breast cancer and testicular cancer are most easily treated when detected early.

Advanced Teacher Preparation:

1. Assemble materials (sufficient for 15 teams of two students each)
   • Flour (5-lb. bag)
   • 60 balloons (medium size)
   • Assorted small objects
     • Marbles
     • Peanuts
     • Beans (assorted dry beans)
     • Beads (craft type)
     • Copper shot

   • Funnel
   • Scoop
   • 15 Rubber balls (approximately 3-4 cm)

2. Place one balloon inside another to make a double layer. You will need to make 30 of these.

3. Mark each outer balloon with a letter or number so you can identify which type of "tumor" is in each balloon as the experiment proceeds.

4. Using a funnel, fill each inner balloon completely with flour.

5. Measure and record the dimensions of each object you use to represent a tumor. You might want to make up sets. For example, a set of 15 balloons might be made up of:
   • 5 with larger object (like a marble) inside
   • 5 with medium size object (like dry beans) inside
   • 5 with very small object (like a single copper shot) inside

   You might also choose objects of 5 different sizes and make sets of 3 each.

6. Place each object into a balloon. Record which object is in which balloon. Push the object down into the flour.

7. Tie the balloon closed.

8. Move the flour and object around until well mixed.

9. Prior to the day on which you intend to conduct the activity, you might announce the topic and briefly introduce the activity. You might allow students to opt out if they feel uncomfortable. Depending on your class and your local community, you might want to communicate with parents ahead of time about the topic.

10. Make provisions for an appropriate alternative activity for any students who opt out. You might possibly assign some research on local cancer outreach efforts for breast cancer or testicular cancer. Some students might want to find out how to become involved in cancer walks or other fund-raising, awareness-raising events in your community. Other students may want to find out more about personalities like bicyclist and Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong at About Lance Armstrong (a site from the Lance Armstrong Foundation) or Dr. Jerri Nielson, the physician who was diagnosed with breast cancer while at a remote research station at the South Pole at Pole emergency grabs world's attention (article from USA Today).