What can we learn about microbiomes by studying wild mice?

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Biology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Sarah Knowles, from the University of Oxford in the UK, who is studying the microbiomes of wild mice to learn more about microbiomes and how they impact the health of their hosts.
• This resource also contains an interview with Sarah. If you or your students have a question for her, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. Sarah will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Sarah’s research, and tasks them to map their microbiome.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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