I have been involved in a number of outreach programs that promote science education and the use of microbiology as a teaching tool. These include, the Pittsburgh Voyager Project, the Precollege Committee of the American Society for Microbiology, and Microcosmos.The Outreach section has information about these programs and their activities and includes informative tips on microbe hunting like how and where to find magnetotactic bacteria. You can also peruse the Microbe Gallery, a personal (and slowly growing) collection of microbes observed with light and electron microscopy.

Contact me : stolz@duq.edu

 

 

 

RiverQuest (formerly Pittsburgh Voyager)

The RiverQuest is a non-profit educational organization that is dedicated to improving science and math education. The program provides a hands on river based education experience for 5th - 12th grade students. In addition to the two education programs ("Environment Science" and "Boats, Bridges and Water"), RiverQuest also has summer camps, special programs, and river charters. In addition to our existing fleet, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival our new state-of-the-art "green" boat due this spring. For more information, you can contact them at 412-231-2712.I have served on the Board of Directors since 1997 and I am currently the Secretary.

 

 

 

 

ASM PRECOLLEGE ACTIVITES

I served on the Precollege Committee of the American Society for Microbiology from July 1, 1998 to June, 2000. The Precollege Committee is involved in a number of projects which involve the use of microbiology in teaching. These projects include the Microbial Discovery Workshops, Teacher Science Day (which are held during the General meeting of the ASM, usually in May), and the Microbial Literacy Project. You can check out their web site on the ASM's server. The Microbial Literacy CollaborativeThe MLC a joint effort between the ASM and NABT, has published a book of activities called "Exploring the Microbial World through Microbeworld Activities". It is available through the NABT or the ASM's Microbeworld website. The four part PBS series "Intimate Strangers: the Unseen World" is now available on tape through PBS. For more information, check out the home page of the ASM.
 

 

MICROCOSMOS

The Microcosmos Project, the brainchild of Doug Zook, had its humble beginnings at Boston University sometime back in 1988. It has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the American Society for Microbiology. The objective of the Microcosmos Project is to facilitate the integration of microbial themes and pedagogy into school curricula. Realizing that most secondary and high schools have limited resources, the curriculum guide (Zook et al., 1992), presents low cost but high content exercises which introduce students to the history, diversity, and utility of microorganisms.I have been a member of the Microcosmos International Advisory Board since 1992. (I knew Doug way before then as we were both graduate students at Boston University and worked with Dr. Lynn Margulis.) I've been to the home base in Boston to participate in a training workshop and have sponsored a workshop here in Pittsburgh.

stolz@duq.edu

 

RESOURCES


From time to time I will be updating this page with tie ins to other resources. I hope to provide electron micrographs, videos, and other goodies. If you have a particular request (i.e., micrographs of bacteria, microfossils, stromatolites, winogradsky columns, etc) I'll try to oblige.

Microbe Gallery.Hunt for magnetotactic bacteria

 

LINKS

The following are other sites that may be of interest.

Official Microcosmos Web Page. This is the official page brought to you by the folks at Boston University. It is still under construction.

Center for Biofilms Engineering. Get the latest scoop on biofilms from the CBE at Montana State University.You can also check out John Lennox's homepage on biofilms for the ASM.

ASM web page. The official website of the American Society for Microbiology.Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University.

American Museum of Natural History.Carnegie Science Museum, Pittsburgh.The Exploratorium, San Francisco.The World of Microbes. A web page dedicated to the Woods Hole summer course in Microbial Diversity.