Education

Introduction

Like any other effort to bring about change, the success of our project relies heavily on active social discussion. Of the many discussions about oil spills, the environment, and some of the solutions to modern problems, the topic of synthetic biology and its application remains a largely quiet topic that has some negative perceptions. In our pursuit of creating not only an oil sorbent but a level of social awareness, we found education to be the most effective tool to ask questions: Why is synthetic biology useful? What is synthetic biology? What can we do with it?

As students ourselves, we recognized that discussions of synthetic biology in Korea are hardly mainstream. To influence change, we sought to learn not just by ourselves but by exposing others to the field and its optimistic applications.

As can hopefully be seen in the summaries below, our team made a conscious effort to include those who may have a future in the field and those who may be disadvantaged in approaching the field. This included students of all ages, from kids in kindergarten to college students, as well as students who are visually impaired. The main objective of our activities, however, remained to reveal synthetic biology to those who otherwise likely never would have taken a significant interest in the field.

Visits to kindergartens

Education and exposure to new topics is very influential, especially at a young age. Given the higher general awareness of the environment in the past few decades, we decided to offer more context for younger students and perhaps make a fun memory while we were at it.

We were very lucky to meet Alice Nam, a teacher who was willing to set aside a few hours from their classes for a few fun activity sessions. We prepared a mini syllabus that included a presentation, interactive games, and drawing activities. Given that kindergarten students were very unlikely to know much about biology other than drawing a few crayon trees, we spent a considerable time making sure that the material we covered was actually fun for the kids and not a tedious lecture. As can be seen below later in the summary, it was also important to imbue important concepts of synthetic biology to activities that the children were familiar with, something our team think did well (judging from smiling faces and laughter).

1. Presentation (What is DNA?)

In a quick presentation at start of class, we introduced ourselves and the concept of DNA. The children especially found the double helix diagram fascinating, which we used to introduce how synthetic biology can be used to change or fix parts of structure. We further focused on explaining the constituent amino acids as “blocks”, and how their combinations dictate how proteins are made.

2. Guess Who

After the short presentation, our team played a version of “Guess Who” by sticking a flashcard onto one of our members’ foreheads and asking the students to describe what it was. Though this activity was meant as a recap activity as well as an icebreaker, we acknowledged that the students could have a difficult time describing terms they had just met. To encourage participation, we interspersed the terms into a list of easier words such as “Hippo” and “Forrest”, as well as having the children take turns with the flashcard on their foreheads.

3. Synthetic “bioLego”

As our third activity, we poured labelled Lego bricks onto the table, referring to each individual bricks as a gene. With a mini tournament of making the sturdiest tower with these bricks in the given time, we recapped the idea of “building” with genes. By encouraging the use of their motor skills, we reinforced the material and gave them a more personal understanding of the concept of building things out of molecules.

4. Drawing time

To end our class, we asked the students to draw something that they had learned from the previous activities. By ending the session with independent work, the children were able to self-express what they had personally learned. Ending with this activity, we were able to both assess how well we had communicated our learning objectives and which activities they had most enjoyed.

5. Conclusion

Leading a class with kindergarteners was a new experience for much of our education team; our team members learned a lot about which activities the children enjoyed, and how important enjoyability was to the students’ learning and understanding.

Though one may think synthetic biology is too complex for kindergarteners to meaningfully grasp, its applications and social context are not. By linking concepts to things that the kids experience everyday (such as genetic modification to GMOs), we hope the experience will help them better appreciate the field as they grow up and explore their future interests.

Education for students that are visually impaired

In researching the extent to which synthetic biology is taught as a subject in Korea, some of our team members came across articles about the lack of curriculum diversity in schools for the visually impaired. This sparked a discussion within our team about how students that are visually impaired would learn about subjects that more heavily rely on diagrams, graphs, and functions. With our inclusivity values in mind, our team concluded that those who must take a different approach to a conventional subject such as biology or mathematics should have all the necessary materials at hand which other students might have.

This discussion was especially important for one of our team members, whose younger brother attends a school in Seoul for students that are visual impaired. On contact with the school, we learned that they lacked an abundance of textbooks and materials designed for those with visual impairments. We suggested that our team would design and create learning material on the subject of synthetic biology for the school, which initially generated mixed reactions on the worry that such an attempt would be fruitless. After compiling a syllabus and some lesson material, however, the school finally agreed to the project.

To gain some guidance from those with experience, we reached out to the Siloam Welfare Center for the Disabled, an institution that had experience educating those with visual impairments. In regular sessions with workers from the institute, we received insight and feedback on our syllabus, as well as some context about the state of learning for those with disabilities. The lack of a permanent governmental effort to support education for those with visual impairments, as well as the considerable effort and cost of developing and producing a braille textbook, means that much of the learning material used today is outdated. This often means that non-mainstream subjects (such as synthetic biology) is difficult to approach as a student with visual impairment.

As response, our team came up with two main methods of introducing synthetic biology; a conventional braille booklet paired with an audiobook, and 3D education materials that help describe diagrams and other images. The development process culminated in a class session at the Seoul National School for the Blind, where we field tested our materials.

Braille Booklet and Audiobook

To provide a format that is accessible, we compiled texts from several textbooks on synthetic biology and created a comprehensive 2,500-word booklet that introduces the fundamentals of synthetic biology, covering topics including genome sequencing, DNA sequencing, biosafety concerns, as well as real-world examples of applications and experiments in synthetic biology. Using a braille terminal called “BrailleSense”, we made physical copies of our synthetic biology booklet. We further created a 20-minute audiobook that summarizes the main topics of the booklet, which is used in addition to the booklet.

3D education materials

In compiling the booklet using information from conventional textbooks, we worried that the lack of diagrams in the textbooks would hamper the learning experience, or even confuse the students. To alleviate this problem, we 3D printed renditions of various diagrams, including as the cell division process as seen above.

Class session at the Seoul National School for the Blind

After we had prepared our materials, we held a class session on October 8th at the Seoul National School for the Blind. During the session, we offered our developed materials as well as a talk on our project and the subject of synthetic biology. Though this was a class session, our team was able to listen to our students’ opinions about their education through discussion. Listening to their first-hand experiences of trying to study the sciences and what changes they thought would better help their study of synthetic biology, we grew certain that creating topic-specific materials such as ours was a step in the right direction to spark their interest.

International High School Synthetic Biology Competition (ISBC)

In a team discussion on the state of synthetic biology as a subject in Korea, our team members found themselves comparing the subject to other “popular” subjects, such as mathematics or physics, and the seeming disparity in the extracurricular activities involving the respective subjects. With the widening effort of phasing out extracurricular activities from secondary education, it is increasingly becoming an impossibility for students to approach synthetic biology. The sad reality is that competitions and events on synthetic biology are practically non-existent or inaccessible to high school students. We even found this reflected in iGEM, in which Korean teams are much harder to find than those based in other countries.

As both an educational activity and an effort to promote discussion about synthetic biology, our team decided to organize a small local competition on the subject. As we set about planning the logistics of such an event, however, we got in contact with other iGEM teams in Korea, who we found to share our frustration at the lack of a forum of discussion for synthetic biology. Thanks to this common goal, as well as a few extremely dedicated team P.I.s, we further expanded our initial plan to encompass a university track as well.

Our organizing members set up the Korea University Student Federation of Synthetic Biology, through which we successfully organized a debate competition on synthetic biology, named the International High School Synthetic Biology Competition (ISBC). We were also able to secure official sponsorships from companies including Amore Pacific, Neovalue, and ENVIEN Biotech, who helped fund the substantial prizes and attract participation.

While the main event of the competition focused on debating topics in synthetic biology, the true value of ISBC came from its uniqueness as an event in synthetic biology as well as its ability to attract young bright minds to discuss a topic they otherwise might never have come across. With the help of the university teams, our organizing members invited experts in the field of synthetic biology as guest speakers to give a talk about their interests in the field. This, along with the education material summarized below, helped transform this competition from a simple debate tournament to a serious discussion and celebration of synthetic biology.

Guest Speakers

With the help of each of the university teams, we were able to invite 3 speakers for the competition event. The event started with Professor Shin Kwan Woo from Sogang University, who gave a talk on the origin of life and artificial cells. Professor Shin introduced the concept of RNA acting as the starting point of life and emphasized the importance of that theory in biology. He highlighted an important question: “can we make those early cells in our laboratories?” Professor Shin further explained the applications of artificial cells, demonstrating how it would be possible to create a functional system that produces specific proteins when excited by light.

The first talk was followed by a presentation by Professor Jang Sung Ho from Incheon University, who focused on biology and its place in biotechnology. Defining biology as the “attempt to understand organisms and why they possess properties that distinguish them from inanimate objects”, Professor Jang emphasized the importance of observation as the most basic research methodology. In later sections of his talk, Professor Jang distinguished biotechnology as the effort to take DNA from humans or animals and produce recombinant DNA from its fragments. Professor Jang shared the importance of measurement tools, descriptive models, and standardization in the field of synthetic biology. In closing, the professor shared his vision that synthetic biology could effectively address the diverse global risks regarding organisms.

Our final talk was given by Saint John Moon from Ellead, a skin and bio-research company, who introduced the applications of synthetic biology in the cosmetics and skin industry. Defining the use of cosmetics as an effort to make the body attractive and maintain the health of skin and hair, Saint John Moon moved onto the issue of hair loss in Korea, and how concepts and technologies derived from synthetic biology could alleviate this problem. In an interesting combination of cosmetics and synthetic biology, Saint John Moon’s talk highlighted in detail the applications of synthetic biology to real-life issues and industries.

Fundamentals of Synthetic Biology (Textbook)

Before the talks, competitors were given a copy of Fundamentals of Synthetic Biology: Its Applications and Precautions, a 26-page textbook compiled by our team members. This was used alongside our online education session, which covered the foundations of synthetic biology with some chapters in lab safety and bioethics. All competitors took the education session to ensure that they had a basis of knowledge for debate.

Debate Competition

In the main event of the competitions, competitors debated a randomly selected topic relevant to synthetic biology. Teams debated topics ranging from “Is engineering human cells desirable for synthetic biology” to “Can GMO cosmetics cause problems with skin care”. After a preliminary round, qualifying teams submitted a short essay on the synthetic biology, of which 6 teams were selected to the finals.

The finals were held in tournament format, in which each team were limited to two speakers and randomly assigned a relevant topic.

Competition Conclusion

While hosting the competition, members of our organizing team noticed a significant interest in synthetic biology among the students. Though most teams seemed unfamiliar with the subject, many held up interesting points during the debate sessions. SFS Team 4, which won out of the 50 teams, commented on how difficult it was to find competitions and activities relevant to biology and synthetic biology. Involving over 150 participants, ISBC was a success both as a debate competition as well as an opportunity to celebrate synthetic biology. As high school students themselves, our organizing members found the event as an effective outreach tool and a way of establishing dialogue with other students about the science and social effect of synthetic biology.