Adopt a Bacterium – an active and collaborative learning experience in microbiology based on social media

• Published in: Brazilian journal of microbiology 2018-10, Vol.49 (4), p.942-948
• Main Authors: Piantola, Marco Aurélio Floriano, Moreno, Ana Carolina Ramos, Matielo, Heloísa Alonso, Taschner, Natalia Pasternak, Cavalcante, Rafael Ciro Marques, Khan, Samia, Ferreira, Rita de Cássia Café
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active learning; Adolescent; Adult; Bacteria; Collaborative learning; Digital media; Female; Humans; Information processing; Knowledge; Learning; Male; MICROBIOLOGY; Microbiology - education; Research Paper; Social Media; Social Media - instrumentation; Social Media - statistics & numerical data; Social networks; Social organization; Students; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Universities - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1517-8382; 1678-4405; 1678-4405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bjm.2018.04.005

The “Adopt a Bacterium” project is based on the use of social network as a tool in Microbiology undergraduate education, improving student learning and encouraging students to participate in collaborative learning. The approach involves active participation of both students and teachers, emphasizing knowledge exchange, based on widely used social media. Students were organized in groups and asked to adopt a specific bacterial genus and, subsequently, submit posts about “adopted genus”. The formative assessment is based on posting information on Facebook®, and the summative assessment involves presentation of seminars about the adopted theme. To evaluate the project, students filled out three anonymous and voluntary surveys. Most of the students enjoyed the activities and positively evaluated the experience. A large amount of students declared a change in their attitude towards the way they processed information, especially regarding the use of scientific sources. Finally, we evaluated knowledge retention six months after the end of the course and students were able to recall relevant Microbiology concepts. Our results suggest that the “Adopt a Bacterium” project represents a useful strategy in Microbiology learning and may be applied to other academic fields.