The document describes the Small World Initiative, a program that engages undergraduate students in crowdsourced research to discover new antibiotics. Students in introductory biology courses collect soil samples to isolate and identify antibiotic-producing bacteria. They upload their results to a shared database for analysis. The goal is to address the global problem of antibiotic resistance while enhancing STEM education. Over 20 colleges piloted the Small World Initiative curriculum, customizing it for their specific courses and student populations. Initial assessment found that students gained research skills and were more engaged than in traditional labs.

1. Small
World
Initiative:
crowdsourcing
search
of
new
an0bio0cs
to
enhance
undergraduate
biology
teaching
Ana
Maria
Barral1,
Huda
Makhluf1,
Paula
Soneral2,
Bri?any
Gasper3
1Na0onal
University,
CA;
2Bethel
University,
MN;
3Florida
Southern
College,
FL.

2. How
it
ALL
started….
Focus
on
1st
two
years
of
college
for
one
million
more
STEM
professionals
because…
• 1st
two
years
ac<vely
discourage
students
from
pursuing
STEM
degrees
• they
are
common
to
all
types
of
colleges
and
universi<es
• retaining
more
STEM
majors
is
the
lowest-­‐cost,
fastest
policy
op<on
to
meet
the
labor
force
needs

3. “Engage
to
Excel”Recommenda0ons
1. Use
evidence-­‐based
teaching
prac0ces.
2. Replace
lab
courses
with
research
courses.
Students
are
are
more
likely
:
■ to
persist
in
STEM
majors
■ to
receive
beEer
grades
■ to
complete
degrees
more
quickly
3. Launch
a
na0onal
experiment
in
math
educa0on.
4. Diversify
pathways
to
STEM
careers
using
stakeholder
partnerships.
5. Create
a
Presiden0al
council
on
STEM
ed.

4. Jo
Handelsman
• HHMI
Professor
of
mol/cell/developmental
biology
at
Yale
• Associate
Director
for
Science
at
the
Office
of
Science
and
Technology
Policy
• Councilor-­‐at-­‐large,
AAAS
(1/1/2012
-­‐
12/31/2016)
• Editor-­‐in-­‐Chief,
DNA
and
Cell
Biology
(1/1/2007
-­‐
12/31/2011)
• President,
American
Society
for
Microbiology
(05/31/2013
-­‐
05/31/2014)
• Co-­‐chair,
President’s
Council
of
Advisers
on
Science
and
Technology
Working
Group,
STEM
Educa<on
in
Higher
Ed
(01/01/2010
-­‐
02/01/2012)
• President’s
Council
of
Advisers
on
Science
and
Technology
Working
Group,
K-­‐12
Educa<on
(01/01/2009
-­‐
12/31/2010)

5. A
current
problem:
Antibiotic
crisis

6. Small
World
Ini<a<ve
=>
students
search
for
an<bio<c-­‐producing
soil
microbes
• Na<onal
issues
in
science
educa<on
• Global
issues
in
infec<ous
disease
• Strategies
for
an<bio<c
discovery
Yale:
Microbes
to
Molecules
Course
First
workshop
of
pilot
partners:
Summer
2013
Currently
24
ins<tu<ons
across
the
country
have
been/are
implemen<ng
the
SWI
curriculum
in
their
courses.

7. SWI
course
overview
•Students
collect
soil
•Culture
bacteria
from
soil
•Test
bacteria
for
an<bio<c
ac<vity
•Iden<fy
bacteria
•Upload
data
to
website
u<lized
by
all
par<cipants
•Iden<fy
chemical
structure
of
an<bio<c

8. 24
pilot
partners
across
the
US

9. Pilot
partners
2013
workshop

10. Course
materials
• Curriculum
adaptable
to
different
courses:
o microbiology
o general
biology
(majors/non
majors)
o molecular
biology
• Lab
manual
(modular,
customizable)
• Instructor
manual
• Lab
protocols
• Online
student
data
repository
(Yale)

11. Assessment
● CURE
survey–pre/post
● Project
ownership
survey
(POS)
post
● Comparison
courses
○ 1
tradi<onal
sec<on
○ 1
SWI
sec<on
● Reten<on
in
courses
● Shared
assessments
● Longitudinal
study

12. One
goal,
different
implementations
Na<onal
University
CA
Private,
Non-­‐profit,
Accelerated
Bethel
University
MN
Private,
Residen<al
Liberal
Arts
Florida
Southern
College
Small,
Private,
Residen<al
Liberal
Arts

13. National
University:
SWI
for
microbiology
classes
• 8
week
lecture
+
lab,
mainly
for
pre-­‐allied
health
(pre-­‐
nursing)
students
• Total
of
10
class
mee<ngs,
4.5
hours
each.
• Half
lecture,
half
lab
sessions
(>2
hours
lab
<me
per
session)
• 3
SWI
sec<ons,
total
53
students

14. Example
of
course
schedule
Week
SWI
content
Skills
Pre-­‐allied
health
content
1
Soil
pla<ng,
dilu<ons
Isola<on
&
descrip<on
of
colonies
Masterplates
Asep<c
technique
Pipenng
Microscopy
Colony
morphology
2
Ini<al
characteriza<on
of
isolates
Simple,
Gram,
and
endospore
staining
Streaking
Differen<al
media
3
Tes<ng
for
an<bio<c
produc<on
against
ESKAPE
pathogens
Spread/patch
pla<ng
Disinfectants
An<bio<cs
Hand-­‐washing
4
Biochemical
characteriza<on
of
soil
isolates
Biochemical
tests
Bacteria
of
respiratory
&
GI
tract,
and
skin
5
Interpreta<on
of
data,
Drao
report
due
Data
analysis
&
summary
Anaerobes
ELISA
6
Colony
PCR,
Blast
of
sequences
7
Organic
extrac<on,
re-­‐tes<ng.
8
Poster
presenta<on
Communica<on

15. Pre-­‐allied
health
microbiology
course:
student
survey
results
(pre/post)

16. NU:
student
voices
• Learned
a
lot
from
lab
technique,
to
record
keeping,
to
analysis
and
synthesis
of
data
• Really
enjoyed
the
SWI
project
as
it
gave
a
clear
cut
goal
to
use
the
knowledge
we
learned
in
class
instead
of
just
memorizing
vocabulary
• I
feel
as
if
I've
done
a
project
that
would
make
me
definitely
more
comfortable
and
beEer
equipped
to
complete
future
projects
in
school,
and
I
would
not
be
as
in<midated
in
doing
a
professional
research
project

17. SWI
National
University
class

18. Introduction
to
Molecular
and
Cellular
Biology
Course
BIO112
Introduc<on
to
Molecular
and
Cellular
Biology
Format
MWF
Class
Sessions,
70
minutes
Lab
1
day
per
week,
2.5
hr
16
Weeks
Enrollment
61
students
(3
sec<ons)
Biology,
Biochemistry,
Biokine<cs
Majors
Pre-­‐Allied
Health
Pedagogy
and
Emphasis
Scale-­‐up
ac<ve
learning
classrooms
Flipped,
Case-­‐based,
Coopera<ve
learning
Scien<fic
argumenta<on
and
modeling
emphasized

19. Introduction
to
Molecular
and
Cellular
Biology
Week 1 Week 16

20. Introduction
to
Molecular
and
Cellular
Biology
Weeks 6-11 Week 16Weeks 12-15Weeks 1-5

21. CLASS-­‐BIO
Results

22. Organic
extracts
Credit: Brittany Pederson, Biology Student, Bethel University

23. Inhibition
zones

24. Biological
Essentials
Laboratory
• Introductory
Biology
laboratory
course
for
majors
• 14
week
course
w/
lecture
and
tradi<onal
skills-­‐based
lab
• One
sec<on
of
tradi<onal
lab
replaced
with
SWI
pilot
o 20
students
(13
females,
7
males)
• 9
tradi<onal
sec<ons,
1
SWI
sec<on
• Lab
met
once
a
week
for
1
hour
and
45
minutes

25. SWI
Lab
Schedule
Weeks
SWI
content
Skills
Introductory
Biology
Content
1-­‐3
Media
selec<on
Asep<c
technique
Pipenng
Experimental
design
Use
of
standard
lab
equipment
Scien<fic
method
Metric
units
and
graphing
4-­‐5
Soil
pla<ng
Isola<on
&
descrip<on
of
colonies
Ini<al
characteriza<on
of
isolates
Choose
ESKAPE
pathogens
Serial
dilu<ons
Spread
pla<ng
and
patch
pla<ng
Diffusion
and
Osmosis
6-­‐7
Tes<ng
for
an<bio<c
produc<on
against
ESKAPE
pathogen
safe
rela<ves
WriEen
report
on
ESKAPE
pathogens
Career
Center
Visit
8-­‐9
Prepara<on
for
chemical
extrac<ons
Light
Microscopy
Gram
staining
Heavy
streaking
Colorimetery
Use
of
a
spectrophotometer
10-­‐11
Organic
extrac<on
Pla<ng
extracted
compounds
against
ESKAPE
pathogen
safe
rela<ves
12-­‐14
Colony
PCR,
Gel
electrophoresis,
BLAST
of
sequences
WriEen
lab
report
Data
analysis
and
summary
“Manuscript”
prepara<on

26. Student
Feedback
• No
CURE
or
project
ownership
survey
data
(yet)
• Student
reflec<on
papers
o 13/18
would
like
to
con<nue
on
with
research
o “I
had
many
friends
who
were
in
other
Biology
labs
that
I
heard
complain
constantly
while
I
had
nothing
but
good
things
to
say
about
this
lab
even
though
it
was
at
8
am.”
o “This
research
actually
made
me
excited
to
get
up
at
8
am.”
o “I
thoroughly
enjoyed
working
on
this
project
because
it
showed
me
another
side
of
lab”
o “Each
week
I
was
more
excited
than
the
previous
week
and
looked
forward
to
coming
to
lab
to
see
the
results
and
perform
the
next
step
in
the
research.”

28. What’s
next???
• Results
will
be
presented
at
the
American
Society
of
Microbiology
General
Mee<ng
May
2014
• SWI
faculty
&
students
presen<ng
their
results
• New
workshop
this
summer
• Updated
materials
• hEp://smallworldini<a<ve.org/
• Contact:
Tiffany
Tsang
[<ffany.tsang@yale.edu]

29. Thanks
to
the
generous
contributions
of...
And to the Handelsman group, particularly Tiffany Tsang