Year 9 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 15
Challenge Worksheet
Learning Goals
What if…?
Scenario
Australia has the highest rates of melanoma in the world. Approximately 16,000 Australians are diagnosed with melanoma each year, and around 1,800 die from it, despite decades of the "Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide" public health campaign that encourages wearing protective clothing, applying sunscreen, wearing a hat, seeking shade, and wearing sunglasses. Researchers have argued that individual behaviour campaigns alone are not enough: structural changes to the built environment, workplaces, schools, and UV reporting systems may be needed to meaningfully reduce melanoma rates.
Using what you know about UV as a carcinogen, the biology of melanoma, and the limits of individual behaviour change, respond to the three structured questions below. Use scientific language in your answers.
(a) Explain why "Slip, Slop, Slap" alone is insufficient to eliminate melanoma as a public health problem. Refer to at least two factors beyond individual behaviour (e.g. workplace conditions, school design, UV exposure windows).
(b) Propose TWO structural changes, changes to systems, buildings, or laws rather than to individual behaviour, that could reduce melanoma rates in Australia. For each change, explain the scientific mechanism by which it would reduce UV exposure or improve early detection.
Change 1:
Change 2:
(c) Australia's National Bowel Cancer Screening Program detects bowel cancer early, with stage I survival at 99% versus 13% at stage IV. Apply this logic to melanoma: how would a nationally funded skin cancer screening program change survival outcomes, and what would be the trade-offs or limitations of such a program?
Wrap Up
In one sentence, what structural change would you most strongly argue for, and what is the core scientific reason behind it?