A fun, educational game and classroom resource that highlights the benefits of genetic improvement of African dairy cows is now available.
The free online resource More Milk Zuri?! helps children learn about genetics and how selectively breeding livestock with the right combination of DNA messages can help improve the productivity and health of their offspring.
More Milk Zuri
The story of More Milk Zuri?! explores how genetics can be used to help an African cow (Zuri) produce offspring with enough milk to feed all the children in her village.
Based in East Africa, the resource highlights the vital role that livestock has in rural smallholder farming families and communities. It also introduces the concept that whilst breeding with non-native bulls can potentially increase a cows milk yield, breeding with native bulls will ensure that other beneficial characteristics are retained.
This is particularly important in low- and middle-income countries like those in East Arica, where their native livestock breeds may be less productive than those in developed countries, but they are more able to remain healthy and breed in challenging living conditions.
The resource includes a worksheet, a classroom presentation and a downloadable card game.
Curriculum Links
The classroom resource was developed by a team from the Centre of Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) and the Roslin Institute, who worked with educational specialists at Easter Bush Science Outreach Centre (EBSOC). It builds on the key messages from the More Milk Zuri?! comic that was launched by the (CTLGH) in 2020.
This resource has been designed for pupils aged 8-14 years old and has curriculum links with cells, inheritance and topical science as well as linking with social science, literacy and learning for sustainability.
The resource, which can be downloaded from the EBSOC website includes a pupil worksheet, classroom presentation, link to the More Milk Zuri?! comic and downloadable card game. Teachers can also apply for hard copies of the comic to be sent out to them to share with their pupils
To ensure that the resource was suitable for use in schools and a hit with pupils, the team worked with teachers and pupils from St Margaret’s Primary School in Falkirk. Over 60 pupils piloted the game and classroom resource and gave it a glowing reference, describing it as fun and interesting and that they learnt a lot about genetics and life on a rural African farm.
Linking with Africa
The team at CTLGH and the Roslin Institute that developed this resource worked with researchers and those with a knowledge of tropical dairy industry to ensure that the resource was scientifically accurate but also culturally sympathetic to the smallholder dairy industry in East Africa.
Eliza Wolfson, author of the original More Milk Zuri?! comic was also involved in the design of the card game. The scientific illustrator had worked in Tanzania so there are several Swahili words in the comic which are explained in the classroom resource.
The original More Milk Zuri?! comic has also been translated into Swahili – the official language of East Africa, so schools in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are also able to access and benefit from this classroom resource.
The team hope that the resource will also be used in schools in Africa to help communicate the key messages about how improving the genetics of livestock can improve their health and productivity.
Maggie Bennett, Communications and Knowledge Exchange Officer at CTLGH was delighted to be part of the team that developed the game and classroom resource. She said:
“We are so happy to be able to highlight the benefit of genetic improvement of livestock to school children in this fun and engaging way. Dairy cows are a vital resource in rural smallholder communities and we hope that this classroom resource will increase children’s knowledge about how improving dairy cows genetics through selective breeding can help these animals stay healthy and able to produce more high quality milk.”
Jayne Quoiani from the Easter Bush Science Outreach Centre at the Roslin Institute helped develop the classroom resource and will manage its promotion in schools. She commented:
“Having accessible, curriculum-linked resources, means that teachers can enrich their pupils’ learning with contemporary scientific research & technology. Science education, more than ever before, needs to focus on helping learners from a young age to understand how science can be used to solve real-world problems.”
**The More Milk Zuri game and classroom resource was produced by Easter Bush Science Outreach Centre, Roslin Institute and the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, using facilities funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation.**
