| MiamiU| MiamiU
This summer the Miami University iGEM team decided to spread the exciting subjects of STEM throughout our beloved state of Ohio.
One of our goals was to introduce fundamental biological concepts such as DNA, proteins, enzymes, etc to children of various ages.
These topics were especially important for our following discussions about bacteria.
We emphasized how diverse this branch of life is and the roles bacteria play in almost every part of our world.
Because our project centers around antibiotic resistant infections, we also made it our goal to present clear and accurate information about how this phenomenon arises, spreads, and what it means for modern medicine.
We hope that our presentations will inspire proper use of antibiotics among the younger generations and that, along with innovative research such as our own, these efforts can help extinguish a major threat to human health.
For our events, we went as far south as the Hamilton campus of Miami University and as far north as the city of Cleveland!
We were very fortunate to be allowed to do in person events again as COVID restrictions have lightened in many regions of the US.
This helped us guide learning and understanding in a way that wouldn't have been possible in an online format.
We were truly pleased to witness the interest and excitement in the students' faces while working with them directly through several interactive activities!
Please join us in supporting STEM in Ohio!
Our first event, which took place on July 9th, focused on discussing and demonstrating important scientific concepts like bacteria, antibiotic resistance, enzymes, DNA, etc. to the Cub Scouts (ages 5-10) and parents at Camp Hugh Taylor Birch.
We began the evening by teaching about the central dogma using simplified terms and many graphics displayed on a powerpoint presentation.
We then transitioned into discussing how these same basic parts of life are present in bacteria as well and create a system for adapting against our modern medicine.
Because this is a major problem that impedes our ability to fight infections, we explained that in our research project we are looking for a solution using bacteriophages- a natural enemy of bacteria.
Without delving too far into technical details, we chose to highlight upon the fascinating possibility of building a powerful tool against many diseases!
To further create an engaging experience, we provided microscopes and slides showing insect legs and wings, flower petals, and animal hairs for the cub scouts to look at as an introduction to microscopy.
We also performed a demonstration using "elephant toothpaste" where we mixed yeast, water, detergent, food coloring, and 3% hydrogen peroxide to create foam filled with bubbles of oxygen as a result of catalase activity in the yeast.
Overall we tried to be informative while also providing several eye-catching components to keep our younger audience engaged.
Through these initial efforts, we were also able to gauge how to improve our presentation and activities before our following events.
Our second event took place at a science summer camp in the Great Lakes Science Museum.
The children were in grades 4-8 (ages 9-14) and were taught in two separate groups (one with 14 and the other with 25 students).
We once again delved into the basic principles of how DNA carries the information for how life is built and functions.
These properties of DNA are crucial for creating the diversity we see among different groups of organisms, including bacteria.
To demonstrate this, we guided the students in observing a diversity of fixed bacterial specimens of different sizes and shapes like bacillus, cocci, spiral, etc. and challenged the students to make their own observations.
This was an important activity to help them learn about proper microscope technique and create an appreciation for parts of our world not immediately visible to the naked eye.
Next, we led them through an activity called “Outbreak” to simulate the spread of pathogens and serve as an introduction to epidemiology and contact tracing.
Each student was first given a clear plastic cup full of water. One cup contained a small amount of dissolved sodium carbonate, which was difficult to distinguish amongst the other solutions, especially when we used a small amount of table salt to give all the water a slightly hazy appearance.
After having the students mix the water in their cups with 5 of their peers, we provided each cup with a single drop of phenolphthalein- a pH indicator.
In the presence of sodium carbonate solution, phenolphthalein will turn pink.
We were able to show therefore that even though only one solution had sodium carbonate originally, several rounds of mixing or “contact” led to multiple students, many at varying dilutions, to end up with the indicator turning pink.
This representation of a disease was especially relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For our final discussion, we wanted to explain the connection between the preceding activities and our research group- the Miami University iGEM team.
We gave a brief explanation of our project design. While we initially avoided excessive technical details, the students asked several insightful and specific questions to understand our research better regardless.
It was encouraging to see their high levels of interest.
We hope that these sparks only grow in the coming years.
Our 3rd education event of the summer was the Water Festival at Miami's Hamilton campus.
The focus of this event was the importance of clean water- both the scientific and societal aspects.
We presented to a total of 150-200 4th grade students (ages 9-10), seeing classes of 30 students at a time.
We made three posters to help serve as visuals during our presentation and activities, and even incorporated Ohio Learning Standards for the Life Sciences (1).
We explained that our research focuses on harmful bacteria that are resistant to modern medicine and that some disease-causing bacteria can spread in unclean water.
Water-borne illnesses are especially concerning for communities who don't have access to clean water.
These communities are generally in nonindustrialized areas, and we made it a point to address the social disparity this exposes.
In addition, we provided the students with hands-on experience in creating a filter device with simple at-home materials.
These included rice, cotton balls, coffee filters, and water bottles.
We also showed how water can be filtered alternatively using a puribag and discussed LifeStraw as another filtration option.
To show how chemicals and other materials spread and diffuse through water, we then revisited our “Outbreak” activity, but from a different perspective.
After years of quarantine and contact tracing, an activity that models the spread of a disease and designates participants as “infected” or “not infected,” may trigger a lot of anxiety in young children.
Out of consideration, we decided to instead rename “Outbreak” as “Find that Chemical!” and present it as a game focused on seeing how water can be mixed and used to move a chemical, phenolphthalein, from one cup to another.
Lastly, we had the students investigate the properties of water using strips of pH paper and explained the scientific and safety aspects of these tests.
As a token of our appreciation and to help the students remember what they had learned, we even designed and printed bookmarks with fun graphics and a summary of our activities and discussions.
We gave these bookmarks to the teachers of each class so that they may be distributed later.
This was a great way not only to make the event memorable but to also encourage reading and inspire a lifelong passion for learning.
Overall we were happy to have the opportunity to modify our previous approaches in new and exciting ways, and work directly with our university.
The Miami iGEM “Tour of Ohio” was just as much of an educational experience for our team as it was for the young students.
We practiced presenting our research in a way that was understandable to general audiences, and found hope for the future in the students' inquisitiveness and enthusiasm.
