Efforts to Grow Interest and Increase Student Potential in Science, Department of Biology FMIPA UI Invites High School Teachers Throughout Indonesia to Webinar

Saturday, August 13, 2022. The Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI) held the first offline webinar and workshop activity from a series of Community Service Programs aimed at biology teachers and high school students.

This activity is in collaboration with the Indonesian Microbiology Association (PERMI) Jakarta with the title "Coliform as a Bioindicator of Food Sanitation and Hygiene". This activity also received support from the Alumni of Biology FMIPA UI from PT. Merck and PT. Behrindo Nusaperkasa.

The participants in this activity were 265 people, consisting of teachers and high school students in various regions of Indonesia, including North Sumatra, Riau, and East Kalimantan, even the webinar was also attended by participants who are domiciled in the United States.

Head of the Biology Department, FMIPA UI, Anom Bowolaksono, Ph.D. opened the webinar. In his speech, Anom said that the purpose and objective of involving biology teachers at the high school level in this activity was because he considered that teachers not only played a role as educators but also as the spearhead in disseminating knowledge to their students.

So he hopes that this activity can bring new enthusiasm to teachers, also remind them that science is important, and then this enthusiasm can be instilled in students as an effort to foster interest in science, and increase students' potential in developing simple research.

"Through this activity, in addition to sharing knowledge, we also want to establish a network between high schools and universities. For us, this is important because through high school teachers as the spearhead, we can obtain superior seeds that will become the successors of biology."

Present as a speaker were Drs. Iman Santoso, M. Phil. microbiology expert FMIPA UI. Through his presentation Iman introduced coliform as a hygienic bioindicator in a food product especially school snacks, to biology teachers and high school students.

Coliform is the name of a group of bacteria that generally live in the digestive tract of warm-blooded animals, so they can be isolated from feces or animal waste. In addition, coliform bacteria can also be found in the environment, such as soil and water. Coliform bacteria are used as bioindicators of product hygiene because they can describe the health status of a product.

"The presence of fecal coliform in the environment indicates contamination from feces. Studying coliform is important to maintain food hygiene and sanitation in the food processing environment," Iman explained to the participants.

Clean food, said Iman, will certainly have a positive impact on the health of the people who consume it.

By explaining the function of coliforms, he hopes to build awareness about the importance of a clean environment and healthy food products.

After the webinar session, the activity continued with a workshop held at the Collaboration Lab. Merck Department of Biology FMIPA UI. The workshop participants were high school teachers and high school students invited from 10 selected schools in Jakarta, Depok, and Bogor.

Each school was represented by one biology teacher and two students who had brought samples, including food, drinks, and water. The various samples, such as ice water blocks, street food, and pool water were tested for hygiene during the workshop.

Participants had the opportunity to try directly the method of testing coliform content in samples. The coliform test practiced was a coliform test using a new generation medium, namely chromogenic-fluorogenic medium which is more accurate and faster to detect the presence of coliform.

News source : https://sci.ui.ac.id/