Teen brothers teach Alberta students about microbial fuel cell technology

Two Calgary brothers are helping inspire an interest in science by sharing their passion with their peers.

Aaron Tan, 16, is in Grade 11, at Calgary's Westmount Charter Mid-High School, while his brother Justin Tan, 15, is in Grade 9.

It was just last year that the pair decided to share their love of science with other students through the creation of a program called the Microbial Fuel Cell Olympics (MFC Olympics).

"It first started with us just pitching it to the eco and science club at Westmount," Justin said.

"That was only 20ish students, but then it grew to over 400 students in Alberta. I'm just so proud of my brother and all the work he's done to help us grow this far and come this far."

Kelvin Tan, the boy's father, brought home a microbial fuel cell kit a few years ago, and his two sons enjoyed putting it together and watching it generate electricity.

"The microbial fuel cell is basically a technology that is actually able to produce electricity just through regular microbes, you can find these microbes everywhere, even in your garden soil, just in your backyard," said Aaron.

"These microbes are actually consuming the nutrients within the soil and secreting them as electrons, these electrons are then able to be harvested and basically put into a circuit in order to produce the electricity."

They still have the first kit they put together on April 23, 2019, and say it continues to generate electricity.

A kit is basically made up of a container, wires connected to an LED light bulb and soil.

"When I was young, I never thought that this would ever have been me as a Grade 9 student, teaching other students, this was such a dream come true," said Justin.

"I find it super easy to connect with the students, and I understand them and they understand me, so I feel like it's super easy to communicate with them and they know exactly what I'm talking about."

Justin says the program is called MFC Olympics because when they have the students putting together their kits, it turns into a competition to see which one is generating the most electricity.

Aaron says their 12 week program is geared towards students in Grades 5 to 9.

"Honestly, I think the reaction so far has been great. A lot of them do say it's a very messy thing, but at the end of the day, they have a lot of fun," he said.

"We're not only been teaching them about sustainability, we're also teaching them about problem solving. We have some quotes from students that are like, 'We not only learned how the microbial fuel cell worked, but we learned how to have a troubleshooting mindset. We learned how to work through our problems and work together in order to solve problems.'"

Heather Lai is the first teacher that the brothers approached about their project at Westmount.

Lai thought it was a science fair project the brothers wanted to show to the science club.

"I had no idea what microbial fuel cells are, and they explained that it was just using garden soils and the microbes in there to create something," she said.

"We're doing electricity with the Grade 5 at the time, that was last year, and I was like, 'Wait a minute, this is a perfect time to talk about alternate forms of energy.'"

Lai says the brothers are organized and can hold the attention of the students they're teaching.

"They have a passion and they follow through, which is super," she said. "I would say those are really good assets for anybody to have, and so having those already at a young age is going to take them far for the future."

Aaron says he and his brother want to spark something in the students they teach to turn them into the next generation of scientists.

"One thing that we like to say is that maybe one of these guys could be like the Elon Musk of the MFC, and they can really propel us forward," he said.

"At the end of the day, we want to empower them, instead of just teaching them the material and like letting them forget it."

Justin has a plan to head to MIT for his post-secondary education to work in computer science.

Aaron, meanwhile, wants to continue learning about microbial fuel cell technology.

"Whether that's maybe trying to code something for these microbial fuel cells to power even bigger things, or if that's actually taking this technology to leading scientists in microbiology in order to try and upskill this technology, or get it more well-known for more people to use."

The brothers see the program growing, and while they founded it, they're planning to teach other students to continue teaching it when they leave high school.

"I just hope that when these students become Grade 9, just like me, they'll also take the initiative to teach other students about MFCs and it'll just keep going on forever," said Justin.

Learn more about the initiative here: http://mfcolympics.ca/