Swimming Against the Current: Zebrafish Help Address Educational Challenges

Narrative

A young third grade student recently attending a science outreach workshop was asked to observe a zebrafish on the microscope. Being new to microscopes, the initial response “I can't see anything” was no surprise. However, another exclamation soon followed, “It moved! Is it supposed to do that?” A few short moments later, this student identified the embryonic heart and determined the fish heart rate, compared that rate to her own heart rate (by using a stethoscope for the first time), and applied different treatments to observe how they modified the beating of a zebrafish heart. Those of us who provide these kinds of observational experiences for students know the final student response. “Awesome!” is used by teachers, parents, and students alike upon a first encounter with zebrafish.

Unlike many other models used to teach science, zebrafish can immediately instill a sense of wonder and awe that attracts not just a few “science geeks” but also a diverse group into the science of life. As evidenced by many of the articles in this issue, the story often does not end there. Initial observational work can quickly move to authentic scientific inquiry, facilitate learning in other disciplines such as engineering and math, and even inspire artistic creation (see cover art for this issue). This inspiration of scientific exploration occurs with zebrafish, in part, due to the immense accessibility and beauty inherent to these small fish.

Even if you already use zebrafish in ways beyond a research focus, this special collection of articles is presented with the hope of encouraging readers to reflect on their own work in light of what others in the zebrafish community are doing to educate others. How do you use zebrafish for your science? How do you help others to do their science, invent and test their new technological application, discover new principles for engineering, or determine a new mathematical model from observations of zebrafish? Does your age or experience with zebrafish matter? Can your work move beyond the boundaries of your local community or even across the globe? The zebrafish community is rich with experiences providing evidence that all of this is possible and importantly quite often, practical. Education in the broadest sense is everyone's responsibility and, as is highlighted by this special collection, can be achieved in diverse ways.

Zebrafish have burst onto the scene over the past few decades as an invaluable research tool and so, too, has the use of zebrafish for authentic student research. Identifying methods appropriate for learning is an important part of educational design and two articles that do just that are presented. Allen et al. ¹ contribute a new approach for rearing zebrafish using rotifers that facilitates the raising of zebrafish for environments with limited resources and additionally furthers teaching and learning opportunities in areas such as aging, toxicology, and predator prey dynamics. The work included by Jensen ² takes this a step further by highlighting how a novel technique to observe melanosome dispersal in zebrafish scales facilitates undergraduate student experimentation with second messenger systems. Anorve-Andress et al. ³ and Sarmah et al. ⁴ present inquiry-based, original research done by undergraduate students as part of laboratory courses. In addition, articles with undergraduate students as lead authors provide further examples of the kind of work that can be accomplished with zebrafish as students develop professionally as scientists.^5–7 Finally, articles representing programs from around the globe, including Spain ⁸ and Poland, ⁹ are included to highlight the kinds of learning experiences that can be designed to excite younger learners and introduce them to zebrafish research.

The articles in this issue represent only a small selection of the valuable work being done within the zebrafish community toward improved education for learners of all ages and geographical locales. We are fortunate to have strong support and broad inclusion of zebrafish work not only in this journal, Zebrafish, but also other journals and conferences such as the biannual International Zebrafish Conference on Development and Genetics and the annual Zebrafish Disease Models Conference. As you read through this collection, the editors invite you to consider what education projects you could share with the community or what you need to get a new project started. We invite all to become involved. We hope all readers will be inspired by this special collection to consider ways you and zebrafish may engage others to learn and grow.