Implementing participatory immunology education in a diverse Latin American student population

Abstract

Abstract Immunology is typically first encountered by students in advanced college or graduate courses. Additional challenges to teaching immunology exist in the developing world, where limited resources require curricula balancing state-of-the-art knowledge with region-specific practical considerations. Project-based teaching is especially difficult to execute due to lack of infrastructure and teacher training. Here, we report the results of implementing short hands-on low-cost microbiology and immunology courses for high school and college students in Bolivia. This initiative, “Clubes de Ciencia Bolivia”, brings graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from research institutions in developed nations to teach weeklong intensive courses in Bolivia. These courses (“clubes”) feature project-based and active learning components and are designed and taught with local Bolivian science instructors. Our approach was effective at transmitting concepts in microbiology and immunology, as measured by subject-specific test scores before and after course completion. Importantly, student learning was not significantly affected by their background, education level, socioeconomic status, or initial interest in the specific course taken. Moreover, participants reported a heightened interest in scientific careers after course completion. Strikingly, participants scored higher in subject-specific tests than Bolivian college students who had taken related semester-long college courses. Altogether, these data indicate that participatory learning for immunology in a developing nation can be used to effectively transmit knowledge. Similar approaches are likely to drive scientific engagement in other developing economies.