Our Goal
Synthetic biology is a growing field that has a wide impact on society. It was therefore important to us that we educate and communicate synthetic biology and its ideas to a wide range of audiences.
Our Audiences:
- Warwick Department of Life Sciences
- Primary and Secondary Schools
- Pre-university and University Students
- General Public
1. Warwick Department of Life Sciences
SLSymposium:
During the COVID period, in-person activities were strictly limited. We had heard from our PhD supervisors that they did not get any opportunities to present their research in-front of a live audience. We also heard from our PIs that it was rare for different research departments to share their research with each other. This inspired us to provide a platform for PhD candidates conducting synthetic biology research to share their work with others within the life science department. We decided to run an in-person symposium named SLSymposium, with the aim of providing an informal presentation setting with Q&As to spark discussion surrounding synthetic biology.
To prepare for this symposium, we sent out presenter interest forms through departmental email, and used our social media and word of mouth to spread interest for our event. During our promotion, 2 academics reached out to us. They were planning on running a presentation skills module in future years and wanted to test out some ideas at our symposium. This was the perfect opportunity as we were looking for 2 academics to judge the presentations and provide formal feedback. The idea behind the judges was to provide extra value (in the form of presentation feedback and advice) to the PhD students that volunteered to present. Shortly after, we booked a lecture room and were able to secure refreshments and food paid for by the department. We even created a SynBio-based crossword as an ice-breaker activity.
As the responses from PhD students rolled in, we selected 4 PhD students to present and created a leaflet to be distributed in the event.
PDF of SLSymposium Leaflet here:
With a turnout of roughly 30 people, the event ran smoothly. The PhD speakers and the Q&A sections were kept under time. This meant that each presenter had equal amounts of time to share their work. Within our event, we made sure to include breaks, which allowed attendees to network and share their ideas with the presenters in an informal manner. We even had enough time to allow the guest academics to share their presentation tips, which was very beneficial to everyone attending.
Reflection:
We collected anonymous feedback from all the participants after the symposium. All of the participants found the event useful and enjoyed the presentations. However, some felt that there should have been less social time and that the presentations should have been less scientifically dense.
Our team would like for the event to be held again next year by the future Warwick iGEM team. Doing this would allow us to share our experience with next year's iGEM team, and also implement the feedback gained. While the first symposium was centered around research within the life sciences department, future symposiums may include PhD students from other departments (Engineering, Chemistry). We hope that the future Warwick iGEM teams would be willing to run this symposium again.
2. Primary and Secondary Schools
GCSE Lesson in a Box
The general certificate of secondary education (or GCSE), is an academic qualification awarded to students aged 15 to 16 in the UK. GCSE Lesson in a box is a program run by Warwick Widening Participation that aims to create fun, inspiring, interactive lessons for secondary school students in the local Coventry area. As part of their program, we created a lesson to teach the concepts of enzymes, collision theory and genetic engineering.
It all started with the initial prompt:
Prompt: a lesson (preferably in alignment with GCSE specifications) that can fit into a box. The lesson should include a practical component and should come with a lesson plan. The lesson can be run by volunteers or by teachers using the instructions within the lesson plan. The box should also be fairly cheap/replicable (£50 limit to materials).
Key criteria:
- Teaches synthetic biology concepts
- Content from within GCSE syllabus (ages 10 and 11)
- Interactive and practical
- Uses cheap and obtainable raw materials
GCSE syllabus: going through the GCSE syllabus, we decided to target the specifications below as they related to our project and synthetic biology:
Enzymes
- Explain the mechanism of enzyme action including the active site, enzyme specificity and factors affecting the rate of enzymatic reaction
Genetic engineering
- Recall a simple description of protein synthesis
- Explain simply how the structure of DNA affects the proteins made in protein synthesis
- Describe how genetic variants may influence phenotype; in coding DNA by altering the activity of a protein
- Describe the main steps in the process of genetic engineering
- Explain some of the possible benefits and risks, including practical and ethical considerations, of using gene technology in modern agriculture and medicine.
Idea:
With the concepts and prompt in mind, we brainstormed for ideas. In order for the lesson to be run by others, it was necessary to create recorded content. This would allow the teacher to play the videos directly to the students with little preparation in learning and revising the content.
Along with the recorded content, we needed to create a physical component. Since synthetic biology involves combining engineering and biology, we decided that the activity would be a fun engineering activity first, with a biology spin.
After looking through many engineering activities for kids (spaghetti towers, egg drop etc.) we decided on catapults. The activity involves students designing their own “enzyme” using soft materials, which would then be shot using a catapult at a set target. This activity provided a nice analogy for enzyme reactions, where successful reactions require the right power and angle.
We also decided to include an ethics debate on the pros and cons of synthetic biology, as it was part of the educational specification. It is important as a scientist to think about how our work can affect others, a philosophy we wanted to carry across to the lesson.
Implementation:
A full lesson plan was created with full details on how the lesson would be run and set up. From the timing of each section, to pre-recorded videos for both students and teachers, the lesson plan equips viewers with all the resources needed to teach 10 to 16 year olds about enzymes and genetic engineering. Due to time restraints and communication delays with our point of contact, this lesson has not yet been implemented into a classroom. However, local schools in the Coventry area have shown their interest and are willing to run the lesson in their schools. The first implementation of this lesson is scheduled to be held on the week starting 17th October.
Embedded pdf of lesson plan.
Reflection
Having spent a lot of time on the design and creation of this lesson, it is truly unfortunate that we could not document here the impact it had on students from the local schools. However, since all the resources have been created, this lesson can be implemented in the future with relative ease. The lesson can also be easily adapted and changed to fit younger primary age groups with simplifications of the content taught. Afterall, the key ideas are present within the activities, which are still fun and engaging for younger children.
If this lesson had been created earlier, it may have been more likely for a live session to be run at schools within the wiki freeze deadline. Though with confirmation of the first live lesson in a Coventry local private school, all the work that was put in was not for nought.
This lesson shows that teaching biology at early ages does not necessarily have to be done through traditional lab activities. Instead it can be taught through interactive activities, where the science is simplified and abstracted. As a consequence of this abstraction, ideas of multidisciplinarity are also taught, which are important ideas as we move to an increasingly collaborative future.
Finally, following the team's desire to engage with pre-university STEM students, we reached out to Gordon’s School in Woking to see if they would be interested in listening to us talk about our experiences, with respect to synthetic biology in general, as well as being young people within research along with the opportunities this created. We quickly understood as a team that synthetic biology was largely unknown and misunderstood within the 11-18 bracket of UK education despite the societal impacts it is likely to have over our lifetimes. Despite this, when addressing younger students, presentations must be abstracted due to the nature of the underlying complexity surrounding the subject, especially with respect to molecular biology and the engineering approaches such as control and circuit theory respectively. As a reflection upon this, it would be important for future potential engagement opportunities within the secondary school and college age category(s) to be approached with open ended discussion in mind as opposed to a traditional lecture format as to gauge, and subsequently build upon, existing levels of knowledge.
3. Pre-university and University Students
Rolling Resonate
Rolling Resonate is essentially a stand-alone station attached with wheels, which would serve as a portable education tool that applies to a wide range of abilities with respect to molecular biology and feedback systems. The idea was first suggested by James Brown from the Warwick Institute of Engagement (WIE). Our goal was to be able to use Rolling Resonate as the base to implement a “tiered” teaching approach, where we would adjust the complexity of the model depending on the predetermined knowledge of the learners and the level of comfort they have when discussing biological principles.
We designed rolling resonate with maximum engagement and user output in mind. We believe a “hands-on” approach would allow us to achieve our aspirations for outreach. Higher levels of interactions would be especially beneficial for younger users whilst hopefully being more fun and engaging for the entirety of our user base.
After multiple brainstorming sessions, we decided on a model that illustrates the “input-output” mechanism of an engineered cell. The goal is to give learners an idea that scientists can modify the genetic sequences of a cell to produce new proteins with the ability to perform non-native tasks.
The diagram below shows a preliminary visualisation of our model:
The model represents the basics of translation and transcription, the expressions of different types of proteins and how the system works to transport a substrate into the cell, break it down into smaller products and then secretion.
This design is built based on the presumed knowledge that “DNA is a strain of instructions” and hence by altering the “instructions”, we can alter certain functions of a living organism. We omitted the technicalities of gene editing and jumped right into what the cell “can do” once the gene is modified. This way, we can hopefully spark people’s imagination about the possibilities of synthetic biology as they walk away.
Unfortunately, the production of this piece has yet to be completed at the time of writing. Nonetheless, the team is determined to actualise our vision for Rolling Resonate at some point beyond the iGEM timeframe and contribute toward the university’s effort in public engagement for education in collaboration with WIE.
4. General Public
Online educational content
To reach even wider audiences, we decided to create educational content to be posted onto our social media platforms. This content was in the form of 1-minute long vertical videos (as Shorts on YouTube and Reels on Instagram) and instagram “Pyre Leaching” trivia series. From videos on synthetic biology techniques, to the history of GMOs and meme videos, our platforms contain content that anyone can enjoy.
Check out our fun and educational content here:
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube | Linktree
Reflection
Based on the statistics, we were unable to reach older audiences of 25 and above. This is likely because younger individuals are more active on social media platforms than those older. If we were to continue for longer, we would like to create content or host events specifically targeted to older demographics. A potential addition to our platforms may be Facebook, which likely has a larger older demographic than YouTube and Instagram. In terms of content, it would be interesting to emulate the content style of popular YouTuber Dhar Mann, but with primarily synthetic biology or lab based lessons rather than life lessons.