Reflection
Our group enjoyed working with Dr. Brown very much. He had designed two experiments for us to consider for our research project. One experiment involved working with either cadmium or chromium to see if these metals, often found in contaminated soil, interferes with bacterial degradation of glucose. The other experiment, more in line with the research Dr. Brown is currently working on, is how surfactants effect the movement of bacteria through porous media. Since each team member had a very different educational background and teaching environment, we focused on how our mentor experience could be incorporated in our classrooms. The surfactant experiment had several errors and was technically more difficult so our team decided on the biodegradation experiment.
For those instructors who are not confined to teach to a end-of grade test and are free to use multiple days, our mentor lab experience may fit into a comprehensive teaching unit on microbiology. Students will need to be provided with background information on microbiological techniques, bacteria structure and function, and the role that heavy metals play in the environment.
The activity of building a manometer is ideal for those teachers / students interested in exploring the effects of a metal contaminant on bacterial glucose metabolism and can roughly calculate Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) as a function of bacterial activity.
Teachers who offer a research course at their schools may include many aspects of the research including but not limited to internet exploration on soil contamination, heavy metal toxicity, general microbiology, fundamental biochemistry, role play and simulations, and long term projects.
We feel that knowledge gained from our mentor research can be incorporated in any general biology or environmental science class at the middle and high school levels.
From our experience in the lab we had the opportunity to see how easily a small error can be made and how it can throw off the results of a whole experiment that had been worked on for days. We also saw how complex scientific research can be. Our mentor shared valuable anecdotes with us from his recent doctoral work, which gave us a more realistic picture of the hard work and rewards of research science.