Team:RHIT/Outreach.html

From 2013.igem.org

Outreach

The primary issue that the RHIT iGEM team took interest in this year concerned the introduction of high school students to the field of Synthetic Biology. We noticed that even though Synthetic Biology is an exponentially growing field and it provides many opportunities in diverse fields of technology and science it is still not very well known or understood by the general public. The Introduction to Synthetic Biology module developed out of this goal to inform the public of this field starting with our youth, specifically high school or freshman undergraduate students participating in biology courses.

Brief Description

The primary issue that the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology iGEM team took interest in this year concerned the introduction of high school students to the field of Synthetic Biology. As a team, we noticed that even though Synthetic Biology is an infinitely growing field and it provides many opportunities in diverse fields of technology and science it is still not very well know or understood by the general public. We took the initiative to begin introducing the field to high school students visiting the Rose-Hulman campus for the Catapult program this summer.

During their first week on Rose-Hulman’s campus, the Catapult students, consisting of upcoming high school seniors interested in math, science, and engineering were introduced to Synthetic Biology through a presentation that the RHIT iGEM had given to the entire group of students. The students were given a brief overview of the flow of genetic information, the definition of a system in relation to parts, and the many applications of Synthetic Biology. The goal was to get the students interested, excited, and curious about the field of Synthetic Biology. This presentation was just the introduction to an activity we had prepared for the students a few days later.

After the informative session the students who were interested in this subject were encouraged to come to an activity that the iGEM team would be conducting a few days later. The activity would be directed towards those students who wanted to learn more about the technical details behind building a synthetic system. A few of the members on the iGEM team with biological backgrounds gave a brief overview of the details needed develop a synthetic system. The concept of parts was introduced and specific parts’ functional properties were described in detail. Then, after the tools were given to the student to understand systems, we introduced the basis behind the system that we had developd for our own project. The project was explained in detail and explicitly described in terms of parts, modularity, and intended function. The expected outcomes of the project, in terms of the systems we had developd, were discussed.

After the students were given the information on how synthetic systems were constructed, they were then given the opportunity to construct the systems their selves. The RHIT iGEM team developd an activity that would reinforce the idea of a synthetic system. Separate puzzle pieces were made for each of the parts discussed. Specific tasks were written in order for the students to construct the systems themselves using the pieces provided for them. The initial tasks were very simple, in order to ease the students into the functional properties of each of the parts. Then the tasks began to include multiple parts that together would affect how the parts would function as a whole in one system. Then the idea of positive feedback loops and repressors gave the students a little bit of a challenge. The activity was meant to challenge the students and also get them interested in the field of Synthetic Biology by thinking of the discipline as a collection of parts that together form a complete picture.

Much positive feedback was received from the information session and especially the activity. Because of this, the RHIT iGEM team began to discuss expanding the student base that the program would reach. The team decided to build a teaching module, a lecture and activity that would be focused on educating other high school students interested in biology who have not yet been exposed to the field of Synthetic Biology.

Details

The Introduction to Synthetic Biology module was developed out of this goal to inform the public of this field starting with our youth, specifically high school or freshman undergraduate students participating in biology courses. The module developd consists of two parts. The first portion of the module gives some background to the field of Synthetic Biology and introduces the properties of a synthetic system that will then be put to the test during the second part. The second portion consists of an activity meant to reinforce the idea of the functionality of parts in a system.

The first part of the module consists of a presentation that is meant to help teachers walk through the applications of Synthetic Biology, and give an introduction to the field and what it means to be a Synthetic Biologist, as opposed to a genetic engineer. Also given is an informative overview of the concepts where Synthetic Biologists derive their ideas. Following these concepts, the presentation introduces the idea of a part and combining these to compose a system producing functional proteins specific to the parts in the system. This information is integral for the students to be able to assemble the systems that will be described during the following activity.

The second part of the module, the interactive portion, allows the students to construct synthetic systems in small groups using puzzle pieces that symbolize each of the parts discussed in the previous presentation. The students are asked to construct specific systems that increase in difficulty as the activity progresses. The activity was designed to be an exciting way to measure how well the students grasped the material and give the students a chance to ask any questions that may arise as the systems are being assembled.

The RHIT iGEM team intends for the this module to become an easy and fun way for teachers of advanced high school biology courses to introduce the field and concepts of Synthetic Biology. The module has been featured on the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's PRISM Project website along with being show-cased in PRISM August 2013 newsletter. PRISM is a database that caters to over 8,000 teachers across the country that, with this database, are able to share lesson plans and other teaching materials. This is our intention: to increase the awareness of the field of Synthetic Biology. The RHIT iGEM team would like to increase the number of students interested in this field along with expanding the public’s view of what the subject is. We believe that with this knowledge students will be able to make more informed decisions pertaining to their future educational and career choices.