BIORETS: Translating Authentic Microbial Evolution and Big Data Research to the Classroom

这个综合研究教育项目将邀请24名高中和初中科学教师在3年的时间里进行真正的微生物学研究，以了解细菌在产生生物膜时如何适应进化。这项研究训练将为他们在课堂上进行类似的实验做准备，学生们将在一周的时间里使用创新课程观察和研究细菌在生物膜中的进化。研究和教学都将由我们实验室和课堂上的导师提供支持，那里的大多数学生来自代表性不足的背景。我们将衡量我们的项目是否提高了教师在课堂上使用生命科学实验的信心，以及学生对生物技术职业至关重要的关键生命科学主题的学习。这个项目将使教师和学生更好地理解微生物是如何进化的，这是当今一个至关重要的话题。微生物生物膜的适应性进化动力学具有广泛的意义，但人们对其了解甚少。也许最大的谜团是——为什么适应如此之快？-提供了我们的综合研究教育计划的关键优势。12岁以上的研究人员用安全的假单胞菌进行进化实验，在一周内观察和研究其适应和生态多样化的过程。筛选突变体通常产生由单一突变引起的独特菌落形态。然而，为什么某些特征会被如此迅速地选择出来，这一点尚不清楚。教师将在一名博士后学者、一名博士生和4名在我们的EvolvingSTEM实验室课程中有经验的教师导师的指导下进行实验来研究这个问题。教师将测试i)适应性表型如何改变生物膜人口统计和随后的进化，ii)改变的表面感知如何影响进化动力学。这些实验将促进对假单胞菌种群生物学的认识。在暑期课程结束后，教师们将把这些研究问题纳入不同学校已经建立的有效课堂课程中。教师将得到我们的研究团队、课程协调员和社区合作伙伴的支持。我们将评估我们的课程是否提高了教师和学生对核心生命科学主题的态度和知识，以及它们与医学和应用科学应用的相关性。我们预测，教师将在课堂上进行真实的实验和数据分析时获得信心，这将使他们以URM学生为主的学生能够培养同样的技能。将进化论作为一个基本概念的关注在今天尤为重要，并将纠正由于缺乏主动学习机会而产生的常见误解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This integrated research-education program will engage 24 high school and middle school science teachers over 3 years in authentic microbiology research to understand how bacteria adaptively evolve when producing biofilm. This research training will prepare them to lead a similar experiment in their classrooms, where students will observe and study bacteria evolving in biofilms over a week using an innovative curriculum. Both research and teaching will be supported by mentors in our laboratory and in their classrooms, where most students come from underrepresented backgrounds. We will measure whether our program improves teacher confidence in using life science experiments in their classrooms, as well as student learning of key life science topics that are essential to careers in biotechnology. This program will empower greater understanding by teachers and students of how microbes evolve, a crucial topic today. The dynamics of adaptive evolution in microbial biofilms are broadly significant and poorly understood. Perhaps the greatest mystery – why is adaptation so fast? – provides the key advantage of our integrated research-education program. Researchers aged 12+ conduct evolution experiments with safe Pseudomonas bacteria to observe and study the processes of adaptation and ecological diversification within one week. Fitter mutants often produce unique colony morphologies caused by a single mutation. Yet it remains unknown why certain traits are selected so rapidly. Teachers will conduct experiments to study this problem with mentorship from a postdoctoral scholar, a PhD student, and 4 teacher-mentors experienced in our EvolvingSTEM laboratory curriculum. Teachers will test i) how adaptive phenotypes alter biofilm demography and subsequent evolution and, ii) how altered surface-sensing influences evolutionary dynamics. These experiments will advance understanding of Pseudomonas population biology. Following their summer program, teachers will incorporate these research questions in an established, effective classroom curriculum already in diverse schools. Teachers will be supported by our research team, curriculum coordinators, and community partners. We will assess whether our program improves teacher and student attitudes towards and knowledge of core life science topics and their relevance to applications in medicine and applied sciences. We predict teachers will gain confidence in conducting authentic experimentation and data analysis in their classrooms, which will empower their predominantly URM students to develop these same skills. The focus on evolution as a foundational concept is especially relevant today and will remedy common misconceptions stemming from a lack of active learning opportunity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.