On Sunday October 6, the members of the De Zoete Lab woke up bright and early, but not to go to the lab as usual, but to join the Weekend of Science at Utrecht Science Park. The Weekend of Science is a country-wide initiative organized by NEMO Science Museum and designed to bring science closer to the public. Among the hundreds of activities available on campus and all over the Netherlands, we decided to share our knowledge of mini heroes with mini humans, aka kids!
We joined this initiative thanks to our postdoc Merel van Gogh who coordinated communication with the organizers as well as organized the activities. Her motivation for joining was loud and clear: “Microbes get a bad rap in the public eye, but they are fundamental to human survival and health. I really want to show kids why they are so important and give them a little sneak peak of our work in the lab. I hope we sparked their interest in microbiology and inspired them to always ask “why?” just like a scientist would!”
In one fell swoop, everything was ready thanks to the whole group collaborating. To show kids not only what bacteria are and what good and bad role they play in our health, but how scientists manage to investigate these tiny organisms. To achieve this, we prepared several activities:
- Crossword puzzle: through a crossword puzzle, kids learned where we can expect to find bacteria, how they benefit us, what can happen when things go wrong and how to prevent it.
- Anaerobic chamber: the anaerobic chamber is one of the main instruments we utilize in the lab to study bacteria that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. To let children experience how it is to work in the lab, we build a mini version of our own anaerobic chamber and asked kids to paint their own bacteria.
- Microscope: Kids were able to look at stained bacteria through a microscope and we helped them identify different types of bacteria.
- “Did you wash your hands?” game: We prepared agar plates and made some hand prints before and after washing our hands with different methods to show the importance of cleaning our hands properly.
During the day, dozens of kids came by our stand enticed by the interesting equipment we had on display and by the prizes we brought for them. We had fun explaining everything about bacteria, our life in the lab and answering all sorts of questions. In conclusion, we can say that our first experiment at the Weekend of Science was a success and that we are looking forward to repeating this experience next year!
A special thanks to Anna Celli, Moniek Salomons, Freke Schaafsma and Sanne Gräve for joining us at the booth and to the diagnostic department and medical microbiology department at UMC Utrecht for providing educational materials.
Text by Anna Celli
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