ed7b00506_si_001.pdf (1.29 MB)
Lab-on-a-Chip: Frontier Science in the Classroom
journal contribution
posted on 2017-12-15, 20:37 authored by Jan Jaap Wietsma, Jan T. van der Veen, Wilfred Buesink, Albert van den Berg, Mathieu OdijkLab-on-a-chip technology is brought
into the classroom through
development of a lesson series with hands-on practicals. Students
can discover the principles of microfluidics with different practicals
covering laminar flow, micromixing, and droplet generation, as well
as trapping and counting beads. A quite affordable novel production
technique using scissor-cut and laser-cut lamination sheets is presented,
which provides good insight into how scientific lab-on-a-chip devices
are produced. In this way high school students can now produce lab-on-a-chip
devices using lamination sheets and their own lab-on-a-chip design.
We begin with a review of previous reports on the use of lab-on-a-chip
technology in classrooms, followed by an overview of the practicals
and projects we have developed with student safety in mind. We conclude
with an educational scenario and some initial promising results for
student learning outcomes.