Team:Hong Kong CUHK/hpHSHK

High School Students - Hong Kong

Before the Talk

Before the talk, we handed out survey to measure their familiarity with iGEM and Syntetic Biology as well as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon and Benzo[a]pyrene.

As shown on the graph above, more than 50% of our Hong Kong high school students have ever heard of neither synthetic biology nor iGEM. Amusingly, 35% have heard of synthetic biology before.

Despite of their carcinogenicity, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon and Benzo[a]pyrene are not well known among Hong Kong High School students.

After the Talk
After the talk, we handed out another survey to measure their understanding and response on certain topics to be investigated.

If we have successfully built a good understanding and interest of synthetic biology in our audience, they should be willing to discover more about synthetic biology in the future.

Most of the students are deeply interested and going to seek further about synthetic biology.

We want to enhance awareness the hazards of Benzo[a]pyrene and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon through our talk.

We have a close to 50:50 responses for this question. It is advisable to change our delivery method and details if we want to outreach these details to the public.

We have obtained results based on individual view of synthetic biology and our project.
The following results are obtained by discussing synthetic biology correlation from one’s environment.

From home, what makes information is well known is by involving family members to spread the knowledge and news. Unfortunately, the majority of parents do not know what synthetic biology is. This is shown in the following results.

Beyond home, religion has been a great issue for synthetic biology. Interestingly, 50% Hong Kong’ population are irreligious or having other minority beliefs. The correlation between religious beliefs to acceptability of synthetic biology among the students is illustrated below.

The results indicated that, there is various insight of synthetic biology among different religious belief. Non-believers are most welcome towards synthetic biology.

The results from religion and personal point of view are similar. This shows that high school student’s view on synthetic biology relates directly to their religious belief.

As a budding field, synthetic biology will be a very integral part of a knowledge-based economy in the future. Hong Kong, being a service-oriented economy has started to have some knowledge-based economic sectors. We asked the high school students on which one they prefer, knowledge-based or service-oriented?

The response is 50:50 for favoring knowledge-based or service-oriented economy. The majority of students believe that synthetic biology will be an integral part of knowledge-based economy.

Lastly, we also asked their interest in joining iGEM.

Majority of Hong Kong High School students are interested in joining iGEM in the future.

Comments about out project: What do you think of using bacteria to degrade cancer-causing pollutants effectively?

• Acceptable
• Beneficial
• May prevent death but can be dangerous to be used
• Great
• Interesting
• Positive
• Worth to try
• Society’s benefit