Power of microbes: utilization of improvised microbial fuel cell (IMFC) as an interdisciplinary learning activity in teaching bioelectricity

ABSTRACT Bioelectricity is an interdisciplinary concept that encompasses the fields of chemistry, physics, and biology. It is the scientific study of membrane transport mechanisms that govern the formation and dissipation of ion gradients. Teaching and learning across disciplines, such as bioelectricity, are known among science teachers to be challenging and complex. One of the critical problems is that only a few teaching materials and learning resources specifically support interdisciplinary teaching, especially in science. This paper described the development of an improvised microbial fuel cell (iMFC) as an alternative activity that addresses scientific concepts of cellular respiration, reduction-oxidation reaction, and electricity generation in an interdisciplinary approach. In this activity, students designed, constructed, and tested their iMFCs. The learning gains of the students were measured using parallel pretest/post-test and analyzed using descriptive statistics and dependent t-tests. The perceptions of teachers and students on using the iMFC activity in teaching-learning bioelectricity were obtained from a survey questionnaire and interviews. Results revealed that the iMFC activity significantly improved students’ learning gains in bioelectricity, for the topics cellular respiration (t(239)=45.03; P < 0.01), reduction-oxidation reaction (t(239)=39.85; P < 0.01), and electricity (t(239)=31.1; P < 0.01), with computed normalized gains of 0.45, 0.50, and 0.39, respectively. Furthermore, seven subthemes emerged from the teachers’ and students’ perceptions, namely, knowledge acquisition, student engagement, academic emotions, affordability, student satisfaction, distractions, and cleanliness. Overall results indicated that the iMFC activity can be an effective teaching material for providing an authentic learning experience in a multidisciplinary topic like bioelectricity. Future investigations on the iMFC activity and its impact on other aspects of learning, such as students’ motivation, self-efficacy, and engagement, are recommended.