Middle-School Student Engagement in a Tick Testing Community Science Project.

Amy Prunuske,Cole Fisher,Amarpreet Brar,Jhomary Molden,Ryan Ragland,Jesse Vanwestrienen

doi:10.3390/insects12121136

Abstract

Simple SummaryLyme disease is a common tickborne illness endemic to many countries, including the United States. Scientists have a role to play in disseminating public health knowledge to decrease the prevalence of tickborne disease, which can include encouraging preventive behaviors and recognizing the early signs of the disease. Middle-school students are at significant risk of developing Lyme disease and an ideal population to engage in community-based science, since these experiences provide valuable opportunities for career explorations and to extend the students’ understanding of science. Our work shows that the students can meaningfully contribute to research by generating samples that can be used to test whether the ticks contain pathogens.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.

Highlights

IntroductionIn the 1970s, two mothers from Lyme, CT collected local data that they shared with scientists leading to the discovery of Lyme disease [1]
Community engagement is strengthened when tied to local context, which is why we developed community science presentations focused on tickborne diseases targeted at rural middle-school students
Students developed hypotheses about why the number of tickborne illnesses has been increasing in North–Central Wisconsin, and completed a reflective worksheet at the end of the session to check if students understanding the goal of the experiment (Supplemental Methods)

Summary

Introduction

In the 1970s, two mothers from Lyme, CT collected local data that they shared with scientists leading to the discovery of Lyme disease [1] This demonstrated a role for citizen or community science, which has only grown in recent years and facilitates the generation of data by amateur collectors [2]. New opportunities for community science are facilitated by the invention of portable scientific tools coupled to mobile technology that support the testing of samples for pathogens outside of the laboratory. These technologies support wider and more inclusive participation in science, but raise questions about the reliability of community-generated data and analysis as compared to experiments completed by trained scientists

Methods

Results

Conclusion