BDI launches innovative outreach initiative: Biomed Borrow Boxes

Dr Adriana Knezic piloting BDI’s Biomed Borrow Boxes.

Timed to coincide with National Science Week, Monash educators have unveiled an exciting new outreach program known as the "Biomed Borrow Boxes."

Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s (BDI) Biomedical Outreach Education Team designed this initiative to provide teachers with easy-to-use science resources to facilitate engaging, inquiry-based learning experiences in the classroom.

Ms. Laura Reid, Manager of the outreach team, explained, “The Borrow Boxes are designed to be an easily accessible science resource for teachers to borrow, enabling them to deliver hands-on science lessons with all the necessary equipment and lesson plans included. Each Borrow Box is aligned with one of the BDI's discovery research programs.”

To pilot this innovative resource, the outreach team, in collaboration with BDI’s Early Career Researcher Community Engagement sub-committee, recently delivered a microbiology Borrow Box to a fifth-grade class at Mount Pleasant Road Primary School. Led by Dr. Brianna Steed and Ms. Jenny Gong, the lesson focused on the crucial topic of hand washing, allowing students to practise plate streaking techniques firsthand.

Dr Brianna Steedpiloting BDI’s Biomed Borrow Boxes.

In a second pilot session, Dr. Adriana Knezic, Dr. Zoe McArdle and Ms. Laura Reid introduced another Borrow Box to more than 50 Year 9 and 10 students at Glen Waverley Secondary College. This lesson centred around the theme of stroke, where students analysed histology slides of mice brains affected by stroke, exploring the impact of the condition on brain cell structure.

With the introduction of the Biomed Borrow Boxes, the BDI aims to enhance science education and inspire the next generation of researchers by making advanced scientific concepts accessible to students.

If you’d like to know more about, or get involved, in this initiative, please contact Ms Laura Reid (laura.reid@monash.edu).

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About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University

Committed to making discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally renowned research teams. Spanning seven discovery programs across Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Development and Stem Cells, Infection, Immunity, Metabolism, Diabetes and Obesity, and Neuroscience, Monash BDI is one of the largest biomedical research institutes in Australia. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.