Nurturing the next generation of scientists through educational videos

In recent years, significantly more emphasis has been placed on high quality Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and skills here in Australia, as well as in other parts of the world. Various organisations are also working towards igniting a passion for STEM early on in childhood development. MeriSTEM (modular educational resources in Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) is one such initiative that has a focus on high school and teenage youth.

Alisha Duncan coordinated the project here at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University. The outreach project, titled ‘Cells as the basis of life’ is freely available on the Centre’s YouTube channel, and will be a resource for teachers aimed at Year 11 students across Australia through the meriSTEM platform.

Alisha Duncan

Several RIPE researchers also volunteered their spare time to create content for and record these educational videos. 

Will Hee
Wil Hee, for instance, shows viewers how to use Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) to identify subcellular structures, such as carboxysomes inside plant chloroplasts. (1.7 Using a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) to identify carboxysomes inside cells)
Suyan Yee and Angela Stoddard
While Suyan Yee, in collaboration with Angela Stoddard, is describing organelles and the difference between Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes. (2.1 Organelles in plant and animal cells, 2.2 What is the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?)
Sarah Rottet
Sarah Rottet's videos revolve around cell membrane structure and transport across cell membranes (2.3 What is the cell membrane?, 2.4 How do things move across the membrane?, 2.5 Passive and active transport across the cell membrane, 2.6 Bulk transport across the cell membrane)
Tory Clarke
Tory Clarke talks about cell structure and specialisation (6.1 Different cells and cell specialisation, 6.2 The hierarchical structure of cells)

 

By: Suyan Yee, Sarah Rottet, and Wei (Wil) Hee || The Australian National University