Figure 1

Teachable moments are distinguished by a cueing event (also called a triggering or sentinel event) that increases perception of risk, elicits an emotional response, and/or represents a life experience that changes an individual's self-concept or one of their social roles [10]. In the case of the Stanford GENE 210 curriculum, the cueing event was the experience of personal genotyping. The students who were surveyed overwhelmingly felt that having their personal data motivated them to acquire new knowledge (the course material) and skills (in bioinformatics) [2]. Students also expressed intentions to make modest behavioral changes [2]. Figure adapted with permission from [5].