Over the summer, our team hosted a STEM summer camp that encompassed biology, chemistry, synthetic biology, and forensics. We held two
one-week sessions, and a total of 25 students attended. We wanted to hold our camp at the lab classrooms of our school so that
students would have a more hands-on experience and learn more. Most of our students were in middle school, or between the ages of
11-14.
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We designed all of our curriculum for our camp, based around four subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Synthetic Biology, and Forensics.
Since our main demographic was middle schoolers interested in science, we aimed for a 9th-10th grade level of difficulty, especially
in biology and chemistry. We wanted to cover biology and chemistry in the first two days because it would be essential for
understanding synthetic biology and forensics, two subjects that aren't taught in school.
Every day, we had several slide decks covering crucial topics for each subject. For instance, in chemistry, we'd have a separate
lecture for the periodic table, matter, chemical reactions, and density. We also incorporated a few labs in between each lecture to
reinforce the topics. Our slides were engaging and fun, with videos and simulations so that the students wouldn't get bored. We also
had a participation point system with quiz questions for each slide deck, and the student with the most points received a gift card at
the end of the week.
We organized two to three labs each day. They reinforced what students learned during the lectures so that they could understand and
visualize it better. We had a few simple labs such as strawberry DNA extraction and leaf chad photosynthesis, but we had quite a few
complex labs as well. For example, for the synthetic biology portion, the students performed a bacterial transformation, putting GFP
genes into e. coli. Another advanced lab that we did measured how different factors, such as surface area, concentration, and
temperatures, can affect the rate of chemical reactions.
We made sure students were adequately prepared for each lab. We did a presentation about lab safety and etiquette, and proper
consequences were reinforced for those who did not follow the safety procedures. Most of our students were pretty mature, so it wasn't
a problem throughout both sessions.
We had the students take a survey both before and after the camp in order to gauge how much they learned and benefitted from our camp.
We had quiz questions about each of the topics taught, and the students tested their knowledge on the topics on the first and last
day. Additionally, at the end, the students evaluated factors such as how much they paid attention and how much they thought they
learned.
Overall, students generally answered 7.5/10 on how much they felt they learned, and a 7.36/10 on how much they paid attention. The
high scores for engagement reflect the increase in average quiz score. The "after" quiz score was 1.23 points higher than the "before"
quiz score, with the total being out of 9.
We created a 41-page book, Introduction to Bacteria, in order to provide a resource for understanding a critical domain of organisms. This included coverage on bacteria anatomy, classification, identification, functions, and applicability in synthetic biology and scientific study: our book's content is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), ensuring its modernity and applicability in an educational environment. The book was created with the objective of providing a collective of relevant, well-rounded information for advanced middle school to college students to utilize. We intend on publishing our book through Amazon KDP, offering our book free of charge in order to achieve our objectives for the book's outreach to everyone.
In order to extend our book's reach to a larger audience, we created translations of our book in Chinese, French, Korean, and Spanish.
This enhances the accessibility of our book, especially to countries where access to STEM education may be limited by linguistic
barriers. In an effort to ensure accessibility is considered in as many areas as possible, we also recorded an audio version of our
book for auditory learners and individuals with certain impediments.
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We developed a YouTube channel that provided comprehensive lectures on biology and bioinformatics that helped students of all
backgrounds learn more about what we do and the beauty of science. Clear, high-quality, and well-organized—we provided it for
free for the goal of reaching those underrepresented and less-privileged in order to inspire them and provide all students with equal
education.
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With Lambert, we were also able to produce a lab safety video to educate those interested in synthetic biology. We used equipment such as hot plates, pipettes, microscopes, and centrifuges which all require some precautions for safe use, as well as basic safety protocols like bleaching. We hope this video will be a helpful contribution for future iGEM teams who do not have lab experience yet, or even anyone interested in conducting research.
On October 3rd, as a collaboration, our iGEM team, DNHS, and WVHS held an ethics symposium at the J. Craig Venter Institute. Because we saw that many people in our respective Human Practices surveys did not know much about synthetic biology ethics, we wanted to educate the San Diego community of how ethical practices are maintained in research. We had an impressive lineup of iGEM members, student researchers, and professional researchers give presentations about ethical issues in research today, and what ethical values they uphold. It was an amazing opportunity to not only educate our peers and learn from experts, but also to meet each other in person!