The Utilization of Current Events to Pique Students' Interest in Research

The Deepwater Horizon accident that occurred in 2010 spilled approximately 685,000 tons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The event received unprecedented news coverage with even live coverage online. Owing to the latter, students were very aware of the tragedy and it was discussed in many science classes. However, it was also used to stimulate their interest in research. In this case students were taught histological techniques and utilized them to monitor metaplasia in shellfish from 2010-2015. Later, many of the students began to ask their own research questions, and investigate how best to answer them.