Exploring the Educational Potential of Instagram in the New Generations: A Study on the Impact of "Adopt a Bacterium"

In 2013, the "Adopt a Bacterium" project was created, which originally proposed the use of the social network Facebook(R) as an educational tool to engage students in learning microbiology through personalized posts. However, the generational alignment dynamic presents contemporary challenges for educators. Given the relevance and success of the project in recent years, the use of an alternative social network is sought for the application of the methodology. In the present study, we describe the use of the social network Instagram as a tool to understand the impacts of the "Adopt a Bacterium" project on microbiology learning among new generations of students. To verify the effectiveness of the methodology, the following steps were taken: i) voluntary and anonymous questionnaires with an open-ended question about knowledge of the adopted bacterium were applied before the start of the project (Q1), at the end of the project (Q2), and five months after the end (Q3), to Biomedical Sciences students in the years 2020, 2021, and 2022; and ii) a project evaluation questionnaire was administered to students. The data were analyzed using thematic categorization, calculation of the richness of students discourse through the Shannon Diversity Index, and the creation of word clouds to visualize student suggestions, as well as the use of Python language tool to demonstrate citations of specific themes, comparing Facebook and Instagram as Virtual Learning Enviroments. The results revealed an improvement in student learning, as demonstrated by the increase in the frequency of content categories related to bacteriology and the richness of discourse, indicated by higher Shannon Diversity Index values in Q2 and Q3 compared to Q1. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that the methodology of the "Adopt a Bacterium" can be applied in different virtual environments, such as the social network Instagram(R) resulting in increased learning and student interest in Microbiology.