Me & My Microbes

Me & My Microbes is a Creative Practice PhD project researching development of resources to help pre-school children learn about microbiology.

Can the development of visual and interactive art improve children’s understanding of and engagement with personal and local microbiological environments?

The Masters Project

This PhD project is a development of my Masters project, which took place between 2023 and 2024. The open workshop and exhibition of results were part of the Dundee University Masters Show in August of 2024.

Me & My Microbes came about as a result of my varied background, starting out in Life Sciences, and then transitioning into Textile Design, and my own struggles with dyslexia and ADHD.

This project began with the development of the ‘Me and My Microbes’ project for my Masters in Art, Science and Visual Thinking in 2024. This was to produce a small collection of clothing decorated with microbial patterns for children. The clothes were all produced in an ‘Age 4’ size, as this was the target age group. The idea behind this was that by making fun, bright and simple patterns with the intended educational material, children would become interested in the subject matter. The intention was that this would then lead to questions and discussions with parents or carers on the subject – this was based on my own experiences as a mother of 3 children. This insight however is also supported by published research (Wright, 2010).

The project was expanded to include rubber stamps sets featuring microbes common to a 4-year-old child’s life in Scotland, and accompanying patterned pencil cases, as well as an interactive play space, open to the public as part of the 2024 DJCAD Masters Exhibition.

The pencil cases were taken into primary school classes by older children – this was unrelated to the project but provided valuable, if anecdotal, insight that the rubber stamps and pencil cases were also interesting to, and suitable for discussing microbial concepts with an older age group.

Engagement with the clothing collection, the original print collection, the pencil cases and stamp sets as well as the interactive play space was very positive. This was judged by individuals own verbal responses as well as time spent engaging with the space and materials.

Given the positive response and my own deep interest in the subject area, I felt that there was room to expand on this original project. At this point I began to attempt to produce an initial research proposal..