Harnessing robotic automation and web-based technologies to modernize scientific outreach

by Orna Dahan, Bat-Shahar Dorfman, Serkan Sayin, Brittany Rosener, Tiffany Hua, Anat Yarden, Amir Mitchell Technological breakthroughs in the past two decades have ushered in a new era of biomedical research, turning it into an information-rich and technology-driven science. This scientific revolution, though evident to the research community, remains opaque to nonacademic audiences. Such knowledge gap s are likely to persist without revised strategies for science education and public outreach. To address this challenge, we developed a unique outreach program to actively engage over 100 high-school students in the investigation of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Our program uses robotic automation a nd interactive web-based tools to bridge geographical distances, scale up the number of participants, and reduce overall cost. Students and teachers demonstrated high engagement and interest throughout the project and valued its unique approach. This educational model can be leveraged to advance the massive open online courses movement that is already transforming science education.
Source: PLoS Biology: Archived Table of Contents - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: research