Developing microbiological learning materials for schools: best practice
Overview
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are tiny organisms that can only be seen with a microscope. Microorganisms include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. Microorganisms are found everywhere in the environment, including in water, soil, air, and in the bodies of plants and animals.
Microbiology is an important science that helps us to understand how microorganisms interact with each other and with their environment. Microbiology also helps us to understand how microorganisms can cause disease and how they can be used to produce food and medicines.
Teaching microbiology can be a fun and interesting experience for students. There are many different ways to teach microbiology, and the best way to teach it will depend on the students’ age and level of education.
One way to teach microbiology is to use learning materials that are specifically designed for schools. These materials can help to make the learning process more fun and interesting for students.
Some of the best practices for developing microbiology learning materials for schools include:
1. Developing materials that are age-appropriate
2. Using fun and interactive activities
3. Incorporating images and videos
4. Using real-world examples
5. Including assessment questions
Microbiology
A resource for schools focusing on algae was developed subsequent to a review of the UK National Curriculum and teaching specifications, which revealed a significant opportunity for practical microbiology in schools. The five practical activities and the entire resource were trialled and refined so that the final publication provided valid, interesting and educational activities. After distribution to 750 schools, post-publication (summative) evaluation demonstrated a need to heavily emphasize curriculum links, and to remind teachers about resource on a regular basis. We believe that this process (from initial idea to final evaluation) provides an example of best practice in developing a practical microbiology educational resource.
INTRODUCTION
In the United Kingdom, independent awarding bodies use a state-mandated national curriculum (NC) to dictate what should be taught in schools. Recently, there has been an increased emphasis on assessment of learned scientific content through written examination, which some suggest is the reason for a consistent decline in practical activity (SCORE 2008; Gatsby 2011).
A recent survey of UK school teachers (Redfern, Burdass and Verran 2013a) found that approximately one third of teachers did not undertake any practical microbiology in their classroom. Reasons for this were varied and included a lack of appropriate equipment, time, confidence, skills, and health and safety concerns. Most notably, teachers felt that although they enjoyed the topic of microbiology, they perceived a lack of appropriate guidance from the curriculum/teaching specifications, thus they tended to rely on the same, few microbiology activities.
Appleton (2002) noted that teachers may prefer to stick to the same tried-and-tested activities year on year, causing potential barriers for external bodies attempting to deliver new practical activities to the science classroom. There is a significant amount of professional support available to teachers in the United Kingdom; for example, the Science Learning Centre network (https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/), Association for Science Education (http://www.ase.org.uk/), Scottish Science Education Research Centre (http://www.sserc.org.uk/) and learned societies. The materials produced by such organizations provide increased content knowledge for teachers, which has been emphasized as a critical factor in making ‘great science education’ (Coe et al.2014).
Thus, new practical microbiology support must provide valid, clearly explained exercises with deliverable aims that satisfy the curriculum restraints of the school science landscape. No example of good practice exists for this process of development, trialling, dissemination and evaluation. This is possibly due to the fragmented nature of the production process, with education resources coming from a number of different authors and organizations, who despite their philanthropic motives, are working independently of the curriculum and one another.
In January 2012, a novel resource ‘Algae: a practical resource for secondary schools’ (Redfern 2012) was published and made available freely to over 750 schools in the UK, delivering five new and exciting microbiology practical activities. This resource underwent an in-depth evaluation process before and after publication. This article describes the approach to two key actions identified by the authors as essential to this process: (1) review of current curricula and (2) summative evaluation.
REVIEW OF CURRENT CURRICULA: METHOD
In order to identify a practical activity that would be of relevance to teachers and students, a review of awarding body specifications (for the 2012/2013 academic year) was undertaken. The review encompassed the major qualifications that can be attained by students before leaving school (14–16 years old) and from further education (16–18 years old) in the UK. This included scrutiny of 22 biology-inclusive specifications for General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), International GCSE, Business & Technology Education Council (BTEC), Standard grade, A Level & Higher or Advanced Higher qualifications, awarded by one of six different awarding bodies.
A topic was identified as microbiology if it is directly related to microorganisms (e.g. growing microorganisms on agar), microorganisms were a part of the process/phenomenon being described (e.g. the nitrogen cycle) or if microorganisms could be used to demonstrate a concept (e.g. photosynthesis). Due to the nature and language of the different specifications, microbiology topics were grouped together into general topic areas, despite slight variations in the particulars of each specification.
REVIEW OF CURRENT CURRICULA: RESULTS
The specifications for awards gained by 14–16 years old (n = 15) provided 43 mentions, themes or concepts that could be attributed to, or supported by microbiology, with an average of 16.67 per specification. A total of 17 references to microbiology appeared in the majority (over 50%) of teaching specifications whilst 26 references were made in less than 50% of the teaching specifications (Table 1). Only one specification (BTEC Applied Science) made reference to the emerging field of science communication with reference to microbiology (more specifically, the MMR vaccination debate).
REVIEW OF CURRENT CURRICULA: DISCUSSION
The spectrum of microbiology covered (14–16) was wide, with mention of all types of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses and algae). The most common themes include the phenomenon of photosynthesis, the role of microorganisms in cycling of carbon and nitrogen and the use of lichen as an environmental indicator of pollution.
Important scientific foundations such as how scientists classify organisms, using the five kingdom or three-domain system, and genetic or morphological features (including the use of identification keys) were also noted. Physiological phenomena such as sensing and responding to external stimuli, respiration, photosynthesis and structure of fungal, yeast and algal cells as well as non-cellular viruses were featured. Just over half of the specifications (n = 8) noted bacterial cell structure and method of reproduction, an interesting addition given the somewhat questionable simplification on understanding cells as plant or animal (with no mention for microbial cells) in the overarching NC (Department for Education 2013). Indeed, there has been a recent movement in science education research to consider the implications of student and teacher misinformation and misconceptions (Dikmenli 2009; Taber 2012). For example, regarding ‘the cell’ (e.g. Flores, Tova and Gallegos 2003; Mannion et al.2003; Dikmenli 2009); however, the lack of clarity in how ‘cells’ are taught may provide a route for even more misconception in the classroom.
Many of the topics mentioned in the 16–18 specifications are similar to those found in the 14–16 specifications, e.g. the carbon/nitrogen cycle, photosynthesis and the concept of energy transfer through the environment. Additional topics included: use of microorganisms in protein manufacture, actions of pathogens within the host cell, antibiotic modes of action and using molecular biology techniques such as PCR to perform a medical diagnosis—suggesting that the higher level qualification enables exploration of more scientifically demanding/sophisticated topics with clear links to the world around us. Thankfully, the 16–18 specifications state that students should understand the structure of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
The majority of the topics, themes and concepts in the teaching specifications related to microorganisms are not currently delivered as practical activities by teachers (Redfern, Burdass and Verran 2013a). Instead, teachers reported that they are undertaking ‘classic’ microbiology, with the use of agar, aseptic technique, sampling the environment and the effect of hand washing comprising almost 59% of practical microbiology activities. There is clear scope for the development of microbiological practical activity to be more challenging and stimulating.
The inclusion of a microbiology science communication topic (the MMR debate), although only in one specification, is encouraging. Public engagement is increasingly recognized within academia and enables successful combination of real-world topic of public importance with the concept of the nature of science; both are now considered essential pillars in school science education (Fensham 2009; Taber 2012).
The key findings that emerged from this initial survey were that there is a rich source of microbiology in the UK NC. Those developing new practical microbiology activity resources for school science education should consult the relevant curriculum and identify, for teachers, how their activity fits the specifications.
SUMMATIVE EVALUATION: METHOD
After consulting the specifications used within the UK, algae were selected as microorganisms that could be used to illustrate aspects of the topics taught in the classroom in a new practical activity resource. Subsequently, a search of existing resources that use algae was undertaken to ensure that the practical activities to be developed were novel. Following extensive development, trialling and formative evaluation (evaluation that takes place during the developmental process, i.e. before the project is completed), a summative evaluation (evaluation that takes place after the project is completed) was carried out using a survey. The timeframe for data collection was 18 months after publication, because the resource would have been available for a complete academic year following dissemination (free of charge) to over 750 school members of the Society for General Microbiology.
Using a mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative and quantitative questions with a number of response modes, a semi-structured questionnaire was developed. A pilot questionnaire was assessed by professional educators (n = 4) prior to distribution. All responses were analysed blindly, and analysis followed the British Educational Research Association ethical guidelines for educational research (BERA 2011).
The survey was distributed to teachers in the UK who had received the resource as a member of the Society for General Microbiology (n = 750). In addition, a further 250 copies of the resource were distributed to non-members of the SGM. However, since contact details were not available, it was not possible to include them in the study. Participants were given one month to complete the survey, with no incentive or compensation provided.
The survey was designed to assess the following:
Are teachers using the resource in the classroom?
Which aspects of the resource, if any, are being used?
How teachers are using the resource to support teaching in the classroom?
SUMMATIVE EVALUATION: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Forty-seven responses were eligible for analysis following removal of five respondents who had not received the resource. The majority (55.3%) of respondents received the resource between 7 and 12 months prior to the evaluation, whilst 14.9% had received it recently (0–6 months) and 8.5% reported having it for over a year.
When asked if respondents had used the resource for teaching, 48.9% said yes, whilst 46.8% said no, with 4.2% providing no answer. Of those who responded no, 21 respondents left an explanation. The most frequently cited reason for not using the resource was time (n = 7). One respondent stated ‘I haven't even taken it out of its wrapping. Lack of time and inclination’. A similar number (n = 6) highlighted curricula/teaching specification constraint as a limitation to using the resource. Finance was the only other reason provided, but with a low number of concerned respondents (n = 2). Some respondents (n = 6) did not provide any specific reason as to why they had not used the resource: one commented ‘to be honest I had forgotten about it’. When the data are considered alongside the length of time since the respondent had received the resource, it suggests that those who responded as having the resource for 6–12 months, may be more likely than not to use it.
Lack of uptake may be due to the time required to investigate the value of a new resource and integrate it into the scheme of work (potentially the best time to do this may have been the next academic year thus causing a delay in usage of the resource). This finding suggests that publishers, aiming to have their resource implemented into schemes of work, should consider the time of year in which new resources are made available. E-mail reminders and online links may be beneficial in this context.
CONCLUSION
Despite a consensus to the contrary, within the teaching community, microbiology is well represented in the various teaching specifications in the UK. This study has identified numerous steps for an approach of best practice (Fig. 3) for developing microbiology (as well as other sciences) practical activities for schools. Since completion of this resource, the authors have continued to use the same approach in developing additional educational material, and believe that all steps are very important in providing an objective approach to developing a successful educational resource
It would be of benefit to the teaching community if organizations such as learned societies who wish to promote their subjects in schools agreed a strategy for educational resources in order to maximize value and impact as well as enhancing the relationship between learned societies (and therefore professional scientists) and teachers (Redfern, Burdass and Verran. 2013a).
Hopefully, an increase in the number of well-tested educational support materials for teachers with regards to microbiology will result in more microbiologists and researchers in years to come. Thus, professional microbiologists should be prepared to play a greater role in the promotion and delivery of their subject in schools to ensure its health for the future.
The authors would like to thank all participants of the evaluative stages of the work described.