Achi news desk-
Two Calgary brothers are helping to inspire interest in science by sharing their passion with their peers.
Aaron Tan, 16, is in Grade 11, at Calgary’s Westmount Charter Middle High School, while his brother Justin Tan, 15, is in Grade 9.
It was only last year that the pair decided to share their love of science with other students by creating a program called the Microbial Fuel Cell Olympics (MFC Olympics).
“It first started with us introducing it to the eco and science club at Westmount,” said Justin.
“That was only 20 students, but then it grew to over 400 students in Alberta. I’m so proud of my brother and all the work he’s done to help us grow so far and come so far with this.”
Calvin Tan, the boy’s father, brought home a microbial fuel cell kit a few years ago, and his two sons enjoyed putting it together and watching it generate electricity.
“Basically, the microbial fuel cell is a technology that can actually generate electricity through regular microbes, you can find these microbes everywhere, even in your garden soil, just in your backyard ,” said Aaron.
“These microbes actually eat the nutrients in the soil and secrete them as electrons, then these electrons can be harvested and put into a circuit basically to generate the electricity.”
They still have the first kit they put together as of April 23, 2019, and they say it continues to generate electricity.
Basically, a package consists of a capacitor, wires connected to an LED light bulb and a ground.
“When I was young, I never thought this would ever be me as a Grade 9 student, teaching other students, this was such a dream come true,” said Justin.
“I find it really easy to connect with the students, and I understand them and they understand me, so I feel it’s really easy to communicate with them and they know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Justin says the program is called the MFC Olympics because when the students put their kits together, it becomes a competition to see which one generates the most electricity.
Aaron says their 12-week program is aimed at Grades 5 to 9 students.
“Honestly, I think the response so far has been great. A lot of them say it’s really messy, but at the end of the day, they’re having a lot of fun,” he said. .
“We have not only been teaching them about sustainability, we are also teaching them about problem solving. We have some quotes from students that are like, ‘We not only learned how the microbial fuel cell worked, but we learned how to have a problem-solving mindset. We learned how to work through our problems and work together to solve problems.'”
Heather Lai is the first teacher the brothers contacted regarding their project at Westmount.
Lai thought it was a science fair project the brothers wanted to show the science club.
“I had no idea what microbial fuel cells were, and they explained that it was just using the garden soil and the microbes that were there to create something,” he said.
“We’re doing electricity with the Grade 5 at the time, that was last year, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, this is a perfect time to talk about other forms of energy.'”
Lai says the brothers are organized and can hold the attention of the students they teach.
“They have passion and they follow through, which is great,” he said. “I would say those are very good assets for anyone to have, and so getting those who are already young takes them a long way into the future.”
Aaron says that he and his brother want to ignite something in the students they teach to turn them into the next generation of scientists.
“One thing we like to say is that maybe one of these guys could be like the Elon Musk of the MFC, and they can really drive us forward,” he said.
“Ultimately, we want to empower them, instead of just teaching them the material and like letting them forget it.”
Justin plans to go to MIT for his post-secondary education to work in computer science.
In the meantime, Aaron wants to continue learning about microbial fuel cell technology.
“Whether that’s maybe trying to code something for these microbial fuel cells to power things even more, or if that’s actually taking this technology to leading scientists in the field of microbiology to try upskilling this technology, or getting it better known to more people. to Use.”
The brothers see the program growing, and even though they founded it, they plan to teach other students to continue teaching them when they leave high school.
“I hope that when these students become Grade 9, just like me, they will also take the initiative to teach other students about MSCs and it will continue forever,” said Justin.
Learn more about the initiative here: http://mfcolympics.ca/
