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Antimicrobial Resistance #4 – Development of the open schooling projects

The aim of this activity is to promote knowledge construction and validation, creative action, as well as self-efficacy through collaboration among the students to create possible solutions to AMR while taking ownership of their learning. The activity introduces students to their mission to start an awareness-raising campaign for AMR consisting of different open schooling projects, thus having an impact at the local level. The different open schooling projects and guiding steps are summarised in the Students’ resources section below.

Antimicrobial Resistance #3 – Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: An authentic experience

The aim of this activity is to initiate collaboration between educational and non-educational agents, raise students’ awareness of science-related careers through meaningful interaction with experts, and enhance students’ interest in science through activities developed in an authentic context related to AMR.

The activity develops in two steps: (1) Meeting the experts in school and (2) Engaging in authentic activities at the experts’ facilities. It is important to note that aside from the relevant background of the experts (i.e., microbiologist, molecular biologist, biochemist, biotechnologist, geneticist), a set of criteria should be defined for their selection in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic status in order to maximise inclusivity. Moreover, coordination meetings need to be arranged between the teachers and the experts before the interaction with the students.

Antimicrobial Resistance #2 – Should we ban the use of antibiotics for flu treatment?

The aim of this activity is to introduce students to sustained inquiry by training argumentation as a scientific practice. It provides students with the opportunity to reflect on the available information and prompts them to create possible solutions for the issue of AMR. Initially, there is an introduction to a simple definition of an argument, the components of an argument, the identification of an argument, and how to formulate a strong argument. After practising formulating arguments based on a rubric, the students get prepared to organise a debate on the topic: We should ban the use of antibiotics for flu treatment. Do you agree or disagree?

Antimicrobial Resistance #1 – What do you think about AMR? Stakeholders’ views

This activity explores AMR from the perspective of different stakeholders in order to document the issue, elaborate on the challenges to be addressed and practice critical thinking. Authentic media items are provided to students, representing the positions of different societal actors. The goal is to raise awareness of the issue and reflect on the credibility of the information using an information literacy test. It is important to note that the activity is introduced after an initial brainstorming to get students familiar with basic facts and knowledge related to bacteria, antibiotics and resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance toolkit

Overwhelming evidence shows that increased use, over-prescription and overconsumption are leading to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bugs. However, many people overuse and misuse anti-microbial chemicals because they lack knowledge about infections and anti-microbial agents – a critical issue around the globe that is affecting our health and putting our lives at risk. Thus, a vital step towards tackling this issue is to address it in education classrooms and through informed action.

This toolkit helps teachers to engage students and their families to develop a deeper understanding of the topic through first-hand experiences with relevant stakeholders, ultimately enabling them to make better-informed decisions about the use of antibiotics.

Air pollution toolkit

Air pollution is considered one of the leading environmental risks. Specially, traffic is one of the most significant sources of air pollution in urban areas. Recently, research on this topic has pointed out important health effects not only in the human respiratory system but also in human cognition and cardiovascular illnesses for those who are exposed to pollution. Thus, we need citizens’ active involvement to change this situation. This toolkit helps students to deeply consider how to improve the air quality in cities by collecting and analysing data and discussing it with scientists, experts in global health, and other relevant groups (NGO, policymakers, etc).

Air pollution #1 – What is Air Pollution?

The aim of this activity is to present air pollution as an important socio-scientific issue (SSI) both relevant to research and to students’ everyday life. Different tools are provided including authentic news from locals newspapers, in-person or video presentations of different stakeholders such as air pollution researchers or local policymakers.

Air pollution #2 – What do we think about clean and polluted air?

The aim of this activity is to develop students’ modelling competence, enabling them to identify their own initial ideas about both clean and polluted air. They are asked to create drawings and written descriptions of how they imagine clean and polluted air, both as seen with the naked eye and in smaller scales.

Air pollution #3 – Building the idea of pollution caused by PM

The aim of this activity is to help students gain an understanding of air pollution that is compatible with its scientific definitions. Specifically, it focuses on the understanding of air pollution as the presence of suspended particulate matter (PM) in the air. Students first analyse which pollutant is usually referred to by the media when describing urban air quality. Then, they carry out a learning lab activity exploring an analogy – they compare the pollution generated by an engine to what happens when a peanut is burned instead.

Air pollution #4 -How is scientific research carried out?

The aim of this activity is to develop students’ critical thinking about what we understand by high-quality research in science. This activity is conducted in two steps: (1) reflecting about different ways of answering a scientific question; and (2) analysing the processes of carrying out research using quality criteria such as: validity, reliability, and usefulness.