COMMUNCATION GOALS

Our team aims to bridge the gap in educational outreach of synthetic biology in our community, as the first to do so in the Okanagan. We aim to foster a bioengineering community at our university, acting as leaders among the student body in the Okanagan and on our campus. To accomplish this, our team designed a workshop geared towards the youth and utilized this material to provide educational experiences through various workshops and outreach activities, with hopes to inspire future biotechnologists and make science more accessible to the future generation. Our team also participated in several university events and facilitated meetings with the University of British Columbia’s Associate Dean to encourage more faculty support towards synthetic biology. See UBC Faculty Support for more information. These efforts supplement our visions for Life Bulb as an educational tool for wide-scale implementation of synthetic biology technologies.

Open source workshop: Playdough biobrick activity

While collaborating with several organizations to provide educational outreach, we noticed there were fewer activities about synthetic biology suitable towards a younger audience. To fill this gap, our team created a fun and easy workshop that introduces young children to the concept of bioengineering in a simplistic manner. We start out by introducing the general principles of genotype and phenotype, and provide students the opportunity to look under the microscope at various bacterial morphologies. The students can then mold playdough into their desired shape, and given a deck of Biobrick cards, must decode which physical characteristic corresponds to the DNA sequence! This workshop is accessible by any educators or parents who want to complete this fun activity with their students or children!

DOWNLOAD OUR WORKSHOP HERE

Let's TAlk Science Stem Booth

UBCO iGEM partnered with the Canadian non-profit organization, Let's Talk Science, by running a booth at the iSTAND STEM Tour. This was an event for Indigenous students in 7th grade from various regions of the Okanagan to learn more about science. Our team set up our own booth and brought along a unique activity we had created to showcase the beauty of genetic engineering, playdough biobricks! In this activity, we provided informational cards on certain bacteria like Staphylococcus Aureus and Bacillus Subtilis, some playdough, and pasted images of different characteristics such as horns, tails, and wings, onto toothpicks. From there, we gave the students a genetic sequence that would code for these traits, and they got to make their own creations!

iSTAND SUMMER CAMPS

Our team also collaborated with the integrative STEM Team Advancing Networks of Diversity (iSTAND). We were guest speakers for several sessions at these summer camps and organized several workshops. The activities ranged from making slime, doing paper chromatography, lab safety, and our own Playdough Biobrick activity. In a highly interactive manner, our team introduced these students to iGEM and our project.

These children ranged from 5-12 years old, the peak of curiosity. During these formational times, young learners develop their initial passions in subjects. Most young learners have many of their lifelong interests developed during this time period. That is why it is critical to introduce them to STEM-related topics. In doing so, we aim to enhance their natural curiosity by learning about how the world works, providing further insight into the why. Furthermore, education around GMOs is important. Many youth hear the word GMO and are influenced to harbour negative opinions. Media scares and misinformation are everpresent. By ensuring clear education on the topic to young learners, we are moved to a better level of understanding for generations forward.