Medical College of Wisconsin
CTSICores SearchResearch InformaticsREDCap

Middle-School Student Engagement in a Tick Testing Community Science Project. Insects 2021 Dec 18;12(12)

Date

12/24/2021

Pubmed ID

34940224

Pubmed Central ID

PMC8708189

DOI

10.3390/insects12121136

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85121583543 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   1 Citation

Abstract

Studies of tickborne illness have benefited from interactions between scientists and community members. Most participants in community science projects are well-educated adults, but there are anticipated benefits from engaging younger students in research. We evaluated whether an outreach experience for rural middle-school students promoted student interest in science and resulted in the generation of samples that could be used for tick testing to assess disease risk. Middle-school students from 78 Wisconsin communities developed interdisciplinary hypotheses about the spread of Lyme disease, identified ticks, and extracted DNA from ticks to assess the prevalence of pathogens Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophillium, and Babesia microti. As a result of this intervention, students were able to successfully complete the research protocol and explain the rationale for completing the experiment. Of student participants, 84.7% reported no difficulty completing the protocol, 66% of the student samples gave reliable PCR results, and 76% of students reported interest in participating in similar experiments. Our study shows that tick outreach programs that incorporate community-based science promote knowledge about Lyme disease, facilitate engagement between students and scientists, and generate samples that can be successfully utilized for pathogen testing.

Author List

Prunuske A, Fisher C, Molden J, Brar A, Ragland R, vanWestrienen J

Author

Amy Jeanette Prunuske PhD Professor in the Medical School Regional Campuses department at Medical College of Wisconsin