A concept for international societally relevant microbiology education and microbiology knowledge promulgation in society

Abstract

The biosphere of planet Earth is a microbial world: a vast reactor of countless microbially driven chemical transformations and energy transfers that push and pull many planetary geochemical processes, including the cycling of the elements of life, mitigate or amplify climate change (e.g., Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2019, 17, 569) and impact the well-being and activities of all organisms, including humans. Microbes are both our ancestors and creators of the planetary chemistry that allowed us to evolve (e.g., Life's engines: How microbes made earth habitable, 2023). To understand how the biosphere functions, how humans can influence its development and live more sustainably with the other organisms sharing it, we need to understand the microbes. In a recent editorial (Environmental Microbiology, 2019, 21, 1513), we advocated for improved microbiology literacy in society. Our concept of microbiology literacy is not based on knowledge of the academic subject of microbiology, with its multitude of component topics, plus the growing number of additional topics from other disciplines that become vitally important elements of current microbiology. Rather it is focused on microbial activities that impact us-individuals/communities/nations/the human world-and the biosphere and that are key to reaching informed decisions on a multitude of issues that regularly confront us, ranging from personal issues to crises of global importance. In other words, it is knowledge and understanding essential for adulthood and the transition to it, knowledge and understanding that must be acquired early in life in school. The 2019 Editorial marked the launch of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative, the IMiLI. Here, we present center dot our concept of how microbiology literacy may be achieved and the rationale underpinning it; center dot the type of teaching resources being created to realise the concept and the framing of microbial activities treated in these resources in the context of sustainability, societal needs and responsibilities and decision-making; and center dot the key role of Regional Centres that will translate the teaching resources into local languages, adapt them according to local cultural needs, interface with regional educators and develop and serve as hubs of microbiology literacy education networks. The topics featuring in teaching resources are learner-centric and have been selected for their inherent relevance, interest and ability to excite and engage. Importantly, the resources coherently integrate and emphasise the overarching issues of sustainability, stewardship and critical thinking and the pervasive interdependencies of processes. More broadly, the concept emphasises how the multifarious applications of microbial activities can be leveraged to promote human/animal, plant, environmental and planetary health, improve social equity, alleviate humanitarian deficits and causes of conflicts among peoples and increase understanding between peoples (Microbial Biotechnology, 2023, 16(6), 1091-1111). Importantly, although the primary target of the freely available (CC BY-NC 4.0) IMiLI teaching resources is schoolchildren and their educators, they and the teaching philosophy are intended for all ages, abilities and cultural spectra of learners worldwide: in university education, lifelong learning, curiosity-driven, web-based knowledge acquisition and public outreach. The IMiLI teaching resources aim to promote development of a global microbiology education ecosystem that democratises microbiology knowledge.