To accompany feature “A first: Kids advise hospital researchers on their medical studies” 

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

1.  How do doctors and researchers know what treatments are best for certain medical conditions? How do you think they might get some answers?

2.  What is one issue on which you might have a different perspective than an adult? How do you think an adult’s perspective — your parent’s or teacher’s, for instance — would be different from yours?

During Reading:

1.  According to the story, why did the Mayo Clinic form a pediatric advisory board?   

2.  What is a clinical trial?   

3.  How many young people are on the Mayo Clinic’s pediatric advisory board?

4.  Why do people who participate in medical research need to be protected? 

5.  According to the story, what are two historical examples of cases where people taking part in medical research weren’t protected appropriately?

6.  What type of research did Paul Croarkin describe to the pediatric advisory board at the Mayo Clinic?

7.  What questions did Croarkin have for the teens on that advisory board?

8.  What are three ideas and perspectives offered by teens on that board?   

9.  According to Miguel Valdez Soto, why is it important for medical researchers to hear kids’ perspectives on their research?

10.  How will the Mayo Clinic evaluate how successful the new pediatric advisory board program has been?     

After Reading:

1.  Imagine that you’re on the pediatric advisory board for a hospital, and researchers ask for your advice about how to study a mysterious disease that causes kids to forget to do their homework. What suggestions would you have about how to study that problem?  

2.  Have you ever been asked to participate in a survey or a study of some kind? What made you decide whether to say yes or no?