Middle-School Student Engagement in a Tick Testing Community Science Project

Area of Science:

• Environmental science
• Public health
• Education

Background:

• Community science enhances tickborne illness research.
• Engaging younger students in research offers unique benefits.
• Previous projects primarily involved educated adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate a rural middle school outreach program.
• Assess impact on student interest in science.
• Determine the utility of student-generated samples for tick testing.

Main Methods:

• Middle school students developed hypotheses on Lyme disease spread.
• Students identified ticks and extracted DNA for pathogen analysis.
• Assessed prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophillium, and Babesia microti.

Main Results:

• Students successfully completed the research protocol and explained its rationale.
• 84.7% reported no difficulty; 66% yielded reliable PCR results.
• 76% of students expressed interest in similar future experiments.

Conclusions:

• Tick outreach programs foster Lyme disease knowledge.
• Community-based science facilitates student-scientist engagement.
• Generated samples are valuable for pathogen testing and disease risk assessment.