Multimedia has the potential of providing bioscience education novel learning environments and pedagogy applications to foster student interest, involve students in the research process, advance critical thinking/problem-solving skills, and develop conceptual understanding of biological topics. Cancer Cell Biology, an interactive, multimedia, problem-based module, focuses on how mutations in protooncogenes and tumor suppressor genes can lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation by engaging students as research scientists/physicians with the task of diagnosing the molecular basis of tumor growth for a group of patients. The process of constructing the module, which was guided by scientist and student feedback/responses, is described. The completed module and insights gained from its development are presented as a potential “multimedia pedagogy” for the development of other multimedia science learning environments.

The National Institutes of Health publishes a series of science curriculum supplements for K-12 education that are available from their Web site free of charge (http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements). In this feature, we review two of the high school supplements, Human Genetic Variation and Cell Biology and Cancer. Overall, we find that they are both excellent resources that engage students in learning science content while emphasizing the impact of scientific breakthroughs on personal and public health. In this review, we highlight the many strong features of the curricula and point out instances in which teachers may wish to seek out supplemental, updated information.