The Course “Microbes and You”: A Concrete Example that Addresses the Urgent Need for Microbiology Literacy in Society

Abstract

Microbiology literacy is essential for any world citizen, considering the major impacts that microorganisms have on our daily lives and health. Consequently, we have created a complete microbiology course available to the non-microbiology students at our university. This course, entitled "Microbes and You" is fully accessible online (in French only) and helps students advance their knowledge of microorganisms in a fun way. Before the course, most students are only aware of the negative role of microorganisms on our health, and this course teaches them that our relationship with microbes is more complex and possesses many advantages. In this article, we share our experience and the extremely positive response of the students. We hope to encourage other microbiologists to set up basic courses in microbiology for non-scientists, or scientists without basic knowledge in this science.