For detailed information about our contributions to education, please visit the communication and education page.
UNGforsk Uke (Young Researcher’s Week) is a huge event that targets 10th graders in middle school and freshmen in high school. For over 20 years, students from Oslo and Akershus have been allowed to visit university campuses to meet scientists and students in the field of science and technology. The aim is to arouse curiosity and interest in the science subject and inspire the students with what they could also do with science. This event was held this year in September for the first time after two years, and we were happy to host the workshops held at the Institute of Biosciences at the University of Oslo.
We aimed to introduce the students to synthetic biology and shed light on the interdisciplinarity of science. We worked together with our iGEM partners (UniCamp Brazil) and we kindled their interest in science and inspired prospects to join future iGEM competitions. Through the workshop, we introduced new concepts including polymerization, monomers, and living organisms in which we can find cellulose polymers and produce them.
We started by showing the student cellulose grown in the lab and putting that in contexts with polymers. How and where to find cellulose and the type of living organisms that produces them. With that, we introduced them to the terms monomers and put carbohydrate glucose-monomers in conditions with a certain type of bacteria that utilize it to produce a polymer.
We held a science class for 5th graders in Vahl Elementary school. The visit aimed to introduce biology and engage the students in science. We wanted to hold a more simplified version of the high school experiment and demonstration for the students.
For the highest learning outcomes, we implement Bloom's taxonomy to systematically design a biology lesson that introduces new terms and concepts to students in 5th grade. The goal was to understand the experiment and be able to formulate possible hypotheses related to the experiments.
To maximize the learning outcomes, Bloom's taxonomy levels 1-5 were used. First, we started by asking students to identify what they know about the terms and concepts related to carbohydrates. Further, connect the terms to familiar objects, such as sugars, and gave examples of objects made of or containing sugars. From there we held a simple informative class regarding different carbohydrates, photosynthesis, and energy. We kept the class engaged by asking questions and giving examples. This knowledge was then applied before, during, and after conducting the experiments with kombucha and starch tests.
We handed our protocols before we started each experiment and together with the students, we formulated hypotheses for each experiment and connected the knowledge acquired during the class with the experiments. While demonstrating the kombucha experiments, we introduced the term fermentation and symbiosis with bacteria and yeast. An important aspect of learning is to let the student experience, visualize, touch, and smell, therefore we let the student touch and smell the SCOBY-pellicle. We linked the SCOBY to the polymerization process and the result of having sugars in the mixture.
In starch test experiments, students were able to test for starch content in apples, bananas, and potatoes themselves. Together with the class and their teacher, we hypothesized which fruit or vegetable contained starch. In small groups, the students tested the starch content in apples, bananas, and potatoes as well as in paper towels. We had the opportunity to talk to the students in smaller groups, clarify difficult concepts, and introduced the term synthetic biology. Finally, the teacher summarized to the class what they learned, and the experiment was conducted.
The experiments aimed to allow visualization of the effect of sugars on a living organism, besides introducing the concept of polymers which are linked to our project. Additionally linking bacterial growth is visualized by the SCOBY pellicle growth to the energy we get with food intake.
Cellulose growth game by Team UniCamp:
We collaborated with UniCamp to test their Cellulose growth game. During this collaboration, the game designed and made by UniCamp was tested and disseminated by our team. This game was tested by 10 years old kids.
Feedback from the kids:
Increasing gk will make the bacteria/green thing happy, increasing anything else will make it unhappy. Winning the game by increasing gk.
