Harnessing remote robotic automation for the study of evolution in high schools

Technological breakthroughs such as robotic automation and genome sequencing have transformed biological research. Although central for scientific research, high-school students often do not have access to such technologies. Allowing students to experiment with such tools may increase their scientific enthusiasm and understanding of biological processes, as well as expose them to concepts and challenges in scientific research. A major approach in the field of evolution that takes advantage of these breakthroughs is “Lab evolution” in which cells are evolved under controlled environments for many generations and physiological and genomic changes are monitored. In a novel remote lab-evolution program, we aimed to engage high-school students in a lab-evolution experiment focusing on a central challenge in medicine – the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. During this program, high-school students remotely activated a robotic system and followed the experiment via live–streaming broadcast. Guided by their teachers and scientists, the students carried out a 10 day lab-evolution experiment: they planned and applied different antibiotic regimens to E.coli cells, monitored their growth daily and made real time decisions regarding future antibiotic regimens, accordingly. At the end of the experiment, the growth of each evolved population was compared to that of the ancestral population. Chosen genes were sequenced and the students performed sequence alignments to identify mutations. To increase students’ engagement and invoke discussions, we set up discussion groups and held several virtual video meetings. Anonymous student questionnaires indicate that our educational approach contributed to student engagement and understanding of evolutionary concepts.

Authors 1 and 2 contributed equally to this work.