An intervention to increase accuracy and understanding in undergraduate micropipette use

Abstract

Abstract Micropipetting is an essential skill for the budding immunologist and is widely used across biological and physical science disciplines, yet few undergraduates are adequately introduced to this skill. The mentors of undergraduates seeking research experience point to micropipette inexperience as a common barrier to success. As part of our SEA-PHAGES authentic research laboratory, we designed a hands-on intervention to give thorough training in micropipetting to first-year undergraduates. The intervention included assignment of a pre-class video on micropipetting, an activity to orient students to the micropipette parts and functions, and a TA-led demonstration of proper micropipette use and volume adjustment. Success of the intervention was analyzed using data collected from a practical test following the lab activity. In addition, we compared the students’ end-of-semester experimental success to that of students from previous semesters lacking the micropipetting activity, using archived electronic laboratory notebooks. We found that students progressed through experiments faster and with more success after experiencing the micropipette intervention. Our analysis showed that some aspects of proper micropipette use need to be emphasized, such as proper depth of tip entry and the correct tactile discrimination of the first/second stop on the micropipette. In addition, we found that students have misconceptions and gaps in knowledge about the metric system that are an additional barrier to proper micropipette use. This project presents a successful platform for teaching micropipette technique, and demonstrates that this leads to increased likelihood of success for the students in this real-world laboratory setting.