Create a Bacterium: an Engaging Semester-Long Assignment

Abstract

Like many other educators, I have adapted the “Adopt a Bacterium” exercise developed by Dr. Amy Cheng Vollmer for use in my microbiology course. Building upon the success of the “Adopt a Bacterium,” I developed the “Create a Bacterium” exercise aiming to challenge even more my upper-level undergraduate science majors. To create a bacterium, students not only had to search for and organize information, but also to analyze and evaluate information (higher-order learning skills). Most importantly, students were challenged to engage in the highest level of the cognitive domain of Bloom’s revised taxonomy, synthesis or creation.