“Pick-up Lines”: A Fun Way to Facilitate Learning Microbiological Concepts †

Abstract

Learning microbiology can be made fun by writing funny lines related to microbiology. Students were tasked to create their own pick-up lines and explain these based on their understanding of the basic concepts in microbiology.

Full text

JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOLOGY EDUCATION, December 2014, p. 299-300
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.699
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education 299
Volume 15, Number 2
Tips & Tools
©2014 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
Correspo nding author. Mailing addre ss: Dr. Thoma s Edison E. dela Cruz,
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, University of
Santo Tomas, España 1015 Manila, Philippines. Phone: 632-406-1611,
ext. 8297. Fax: 632-731-4031. E-mail: tedelacruz@mnl.ust .edu.ph.
†Supplemental materials available at http://jmbe.asm.org
INTRODUCTION
Learning microbiology need not be boring. In fact,
as teachers, we often nd ways to make learning fun and
enjoyable for our students. In our classroom, we employ
movies (2) or online games (1) to facilitate learning that will
not bore our students. In the Philippines, a popular culture
has just recently emerged among the young generation. It
reects the fun-loving nature of many Filipinos. Dubbed
“pick-up lines,” it entails creating funny lines whereby the
lover compares his or her loved one to anything. This
is often done by asking if the person is the object being
compared to, followed by a line that explains or justies
the comparison. For example, a man will ask his girlfriend
if she is the sun. The girlfriend would ask why and the
man would respond “because she brightens his day.” Such
fun lines became popular in the Philippines and became a
colloquial expression of feelings intermixed with humor.
Recognizing the connection that the younger generation
has with this pop culture, a tactic was devised to facilitate
comprehension of basic concepts in microbiology by de-
veloping “pick-up” lines.
As an individual or a group take-home assignment,
students were tasked to develop ve “pick-up” lines related
to microbiology. After every “pick-up” line they prepared,
the students were also asked to explain the microbiology
concept(s) behind their lines. Students shared these in front
of a class and discussed the principles or concepts behind
these fun lines. The class could vote on th e best “pick- up”
line(s) following set criteria. As a take-home task, points
were given for every “pick-up” line prepared. After the
activity, the students were surveyed for their perception
of the activity. They were informed of the purpose of the
survey and that participation in the survey would not in
any way affect their grade. Participants were requested to
sign an informed consent to participate in the survey. No
safety issue was encountered in this study.
PROCEDURE
Thirty-seven sophomore students taking the B. Sc.
Microbiology program were part of the study group. The
students were enrolled in the General Microbiology course
and were 16 to 17 years old. The activity was part of the
graded take-home assignments the students needed to sub-
mit following a lecture or towards the end of the semester.
A prior informed consent form was secured before a survey
of the students’ perception of the activity was conducted.
The survey questions were previously evaluated by the
university’s ethics review board.
It is important in teaching technical courses to consider
the age of the students in order to devise learning activities
that they can appreciate or that are appropriate for their age
level. It is also useful to understand their culture and utilize
technologies or even popular culture known to them. For
example, we have used social networking sites like Facebook
to facilitate learning. In the Philippines, a colloquial, popular
culture recently emerged involving creating humorous lines to
express one’s admiration of others. Though not to be taken
seriously, it created a funny atmosphere between couples or
among friends. I used this recent popular culture as a strategy to
assess undergraduate students’ understanding of basic concepts
in microbiology. They were tasked to develop “pick-up” lines
involving ideas, concepts, or organisms in microbiology and
provide a short explanation for these lines. Examples of “pick-
up” lines developed by the students related to parts or func-
tions of the cell or compared someone to a cell or cell parts.
Areyouaagellum?Whydoyouask?BecauseIcan’tmove
withoutyou.
Concept: A agellum is a thread-like structure found in
microorganisms that enables them to move or swim.
Their movement towards or away from a stimulus is
termed taxis.
Ifyouwillbeacell,Ihopetobeyourcellwallandprovide
youwithstructuralsupport.
Concept: Cell wall protects and provides shape to
the cell.
In some fun lines, the target of affection or the feeling
is compared to an organism.
“Pick-up Lines”: A Fun Way to Facilitate Learning Microbiological Concepts †
Thomas Edison E. dela Cruz
DepartmentofBiologicalSciences,CollegeofScience,UniversityofSantoTomas,España1015Manila,Philippines

Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
DELA CRUZ: PICK-UP LINES IN MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 15, Number 2
300
MyloveforyouislikethatofDeinococcus radiodurans.
Itcanwithstandeventheharshestofsituations.
Concept: The unusual organism, Deinococcusradiodurans,
can tolerate a high dose of radiation that is deadly for
most organisms. This organism falls under the group
of Deinococcus-Thermus which are highly adapted for
extreme environments. The property of being radiotol-
erant can be accounted for by the overall structure of
the cell. For instance, they have a highly stable cell wall
and their DNA is protected by certain proteins that
maintain its integrity.
The activity was well received by the students (see Table
1). All but one agreed that the activity helped them to learn and
understand concepts in microbiology. The activity also allowed
them to appreciate microbiology and develop their creative
or artistic skills in writing humorous lines. The majority were
also motivated to share microbiology with others. Out of 37
students, 36 enjoyed the activity and said that it was fun. Some
of the comments received from the activity were as follows:
• The activity was fun and, at the same time, challeng-
ing. You need a mastery of the subject to appreciate
the “pick-up” lines.
• This class activity requires creativity and knowledge
of microbiology concepts.
• The activity was very helpful in remembering mi-
crobial concepts in a fun manner.
• This activity really helped me understand some con-
cepts in microbiology. It is not that easy to create
such creative “pick-up” lines so I was really forced
to read and understand microbiological terms. This
so far has been the most fun and useful activity that
I have ever encountered in my college life.
• The class activity was unusual but we had fun doing
it for we enjoy things that we can relate with our
lives as teenagers and incorporate microbiological
concepts as well.
CONCLUSION
Generally, student participants enjoyed the class
activity and were challenged to be more creative in
their pick-up lines. But, what makes this learning activ-
ity a “hit” for students is the fact that they relate well
to the task. As one student noted, it helped the lessons
relate to their lives as teenagers. Thus, this study simply
shows that incorporating popular culture in our lessons
motivates our students to learn more about the concepts
we are teaching.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
Appendix 1: Additional examples of “pick-up” lines
related to microbiology
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The au t h o r de c l ar e s th a t th e r e are no conict s of interest .
REFERENCES
1. Bowling, K. G., Y. Klisch, S. Wang, and M. Beier. 2013.
Examining an online microbiology game as an effective tool
for teaching the scientic process. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ.
14: 58 –65.
2. Sanchez, M. 2011. Bugs and movies: using lm to teach
microbiology. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 12:206–207.
TABLE 1.
Student participants’ perception of the class activity using a Likert scale of 1 to 4 (n = 37).
Strongly Disagree
(1)
Disagree
(2)
Agree
(3)
Strongly Agree
(4)
The class activity helped me to learn and understand the concepts in
microbiology.
1 0 19 17
The class activity helped me appreciate microbiology. 1 0 18 18
The class activity helped me develop my creative skills. 1 0 8 28
The class activity motivated me to teach/share microbiology to others. 1 6 16 14
I enjoyed the class activity. 1 0 12 24