A Tiered Mentoring Model to Develop Scientific Identity and Skills in a Biodesign Competition

• In Event: The Biomaker Ecosystem: Technologies, Spaces, and Curriculum for K–12 Making With Biology

Abstract

Baltimore Underground Science Space (BUGSS, 2020) is a community lab serving the Mid-Atlantic region. As part of the community laboratory and DIY-Biology movement, we seek to make biological technology more accessible to individuals outside of traditional education and research spaces. To accomplish this mission, BUGSS hosts seminars, teaches hands-on classes, and provides laboratory space for members to conduct experiments.

By making biology easier to engineer, synthetic biology enables new practitioners to engage in creative, design-based biological activities. One example is our high school research team, the Baltimore BioCrew, which participates in the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM, 2020) program. In iGEM, students design and create a unique biological system to address an authentic societal need. Our students’ designs are tied to our Baltimore community, and using students’ experiences to solve personally meaningful problems better engages them than traditional biology instruction.

A for the Baltimore BioCrew is to acculturate students to the complex professional practice of research. Because most research is conducted by a collaborative hierarchy of principal investigator, staff scientists, postdoctoral fellows, trainees, and others, we embrace a parallel tiered leadership strategy (Duran et al., 2011) leveraged previously in math (Wolz & Conjura, 1994) and computer (Marino & Beecher, 2010) science. In our implementation design, the lead instructor helps the team to set specific goals for each session, works with any group that needs a high level of expertise, and leads a review at the end of each session. Mentors work with sub-teams of 4-7 students to achieve defined goals. Student participants also vary in their age and experience (grades 8-12); senior students take responsibility for organizing each sub-team's research and preparing it for public presentation. This structure has unique benefits, including the formation of multi-age learning groups, the development of each student as an expert in one facet of the project, and the opportunity for students to build expertise.

Diverse assessment measures reveal the success of this approach. Pre-program and post-program surveys indicate students’ increased self-identification as scientists and commitment to science careers. Participants frequently base their college essays on their iGEM experience, resulting in high rates of acceptance to top colleges, including several full tuition scholarships. Several BioCrew alumni have served as teaching assistants for our biomedical internship for middle school students from traditionally underrepresented groups to explore genetic engineering and design thinking. Another success metric is that as the program progresses, mentors increasingly work independently of the lead instructor. Students’ ability to organize and present their work for public presentations is a robust indication of the high level of student learning.

The goal of BUGSS’ Baltimore BioCrew program is to build a diverse, engaged, self-directed community of scientists. We focus on strengthening high school students’ identity as scientists during the crucial college transition to strengthen persistence in STEM, especially among students from traditionally underrepresented groups, which comprise more than half of our teams. The program has inspired additional BUGSS programs, including those for homeschooled students, revealing another audience which resonates with rich and creative design-based science education.

Author

• Lisa Scheifele, Loyola University Maryland