Education

Over the years CSCF has perfected its message to fit within the school curriculum. Teachers and students have helped us evolve the content and delivery to ensure learning, retention and changes in behaviour. The local program has grown from two classroom presentations just seven years ago to over 230 presentations in the past two years. And that was just through word of mouth.

The Foundation has recently contracted BaseCorp Learning Systems to create an interactive, online education program targeting grades 5 and 6 and another targeting junior high and high school students. This online program is an integrated interactive education program that supports in-class presentations and teaches sun safety, the risks associated with tanning beds and the ABCDEs of early detection.

Part of the success of the current education program is our partnership with health sciences students at the University of Alberta who volunteer their time to coordinate the delivery of the program into classrooms. These volunteers, future health care providers and others, not only deliver the important sun safety message to children and youth, they themselves become committed to the message and take it with them into their professional careers.

At the time of delivery, volunteers also hand out sun safety information brochures to be taken home to parents and siblings, a sun screen sample (donated in 2012 by Ombrelle) and a UV sensitive bracelet that changes color when exposed to UV radiation – a reminder that it’s time put on your sunscreen.

Response from students and teachers (over 6,000 in Edmonton and Calgary in 2012) is very positive, with the children often reminding teachers about sun safety when they go out for recess or lunch breaks.

By January 2013 the Foundation will have a fully integrated sun safety education program available online. A full scale marketing program is currently being created to ensure schools, universities, teachers and others are fully aware of this program and how they can take advantage of its use in teaching children and youth about sun safety and skin cancer.

For more information on how you can support a national sun safety education program please contact the Foundation through our contact page, or call us at 780.423.2723.

By changing attitudes, we will change behaviours!