Nuestra Ciencia: Transforming Microbiology for Spanish-Speaking Elementary and College Students

This forward-looking perspective describes the university-elementary bilingual partnership program Nuestra Ciencia. This program aims to simultaneously tackle two parallel sets of challenges, the first related to recruitment and retention of Latinx into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, and the second related to generalized microbiology misconceptions. Latinxs are severely underrepresented in STEM fields, in part because they face systemic barriers and typically arrive at college with a weaker science foundation from their K-12 education and thus are less likely to be drawn to STEM majors. Beyond grappling with the science content, Latinx students reach college with assumptions about who belongs in science practices and professions, which in turn negatively affect their representation in STEM careers. Misconceptions also plague microbiology education, and most students reach college with deep-seated yet inaccurate ideas about the microbial world, such as the ways in which vaccines and antibiotics work. Unfortunately, lack of microbiology literacy has a direct impact on personal choices that can affect individuals but also the success of public health and environmental policies. Nuestra Ciencia addresses both sets of problems, as we work with interdisciplinary groups of undergraduates to develop engaging experiments for elementary classrooms that illustrate microbiology concepts, and then visit bilingual classrooms to lead the experiments in Spanish. Lessons have accompanying resources in Spanish and English for teachers and students, including background information, handouts, and assessment tools. In this article, we outline the background, goals and components of the program, review activities developed for elementary students, and share potential impact and lessons learned. Additionally, we explore future directions and outreach activities, especially in relation to online learning.