Methane-Reducing Bovine Probiotic- ASPIRE Bio Kids Get a Handle on the Gas!

"Maybe we should consider a CRISPR sequence?" says one student to another.  "Yeah, maybe..." responds his teammate as their teacher, Kristin Donovan-DeIturrino listens in with a grin.  The 8th grade APSIRE biology students at Cross Timbers Middle School have been tasked with an interesting bioengineering problem:  Design a delivery system and engineer the genes of bacteria for a probiotic treatment for cattle. 
Why do they need to do that? 

 Cows produce methane, a gas that is environmentally problematic, so if they could design a medicine that reduces methane production in cattle, it could reduce the release of the atmospheric gas. As part of this Project Based Learning unit, the students were given opportunities to explore why cows produce so much methane, how bacteria are used as probiotic, how the genes of bacteria can be altered to reduce methane, the anatomy of ruminants and the EPA guidelines on methane reduction. The project began with the following driving question:
How do we as microbiologists, design a delivery system for a cattle probiotic and bioengineer bovine methane-reducing bacteria for the Bar-D Cattle Ranch, so that as the cattle ranch grows it is in compliance with EPA recommendations to minimize the impact of methane production on the environment?

One of the highlights of the journey was culturing living e.coli bacteria (along with learning microbiology safety procedures) and bioengineering them to glow in the dark!  

The students were extremely engaged in the process of designing their probiotic, and proved once again how incredibly creative and innovative they can be.  The design of this unit combined a NCCSTS case study (aligned to Biology TEKS) with GCISD Project Based Learning and Parallel Curriculum Model. The conclusion of the unit gave students the opportunity to present their original ideas to each other, explaining their unique approaches to this problem.  After the presentations, Mrs. Donovan-DeIturrino sent out a Google Form in order to gather feedback on the experience from students which was overwhelmingly positive.  Some of the suggestions were very specific, including this helpful idea from one student; 
"I think that the check-ins should be a little bit longer because I think that it would create more meaningful discussions between students.".


And there it is; student voice, problem-solving, learning platform and SCIENCE at their best.

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