2022 Science Symposium: A Virtual Meetup Hosted by iGEM Wright State
As a second year team, Wright State iGEM wanted to connect with other iGEM teams to build up our scientific community. Interacting within our community is integral in not only machine learning but broadening our perspectives as critical thinkers. We wanted to host a virtual meetup that encompasses what science is really all about: passion. Our meetup had an informal feeling as we wanted to get to know our fellow iGEMers and have a low stress environment to discuss our projects, making science fun-because that's what science should be!
To accomplish this our meetup conisted of icebreakers, then a brief presentation of projects, followed by questions and trouble shooting. In attendance of our virtual meetup entitled "The Science Symposium" were North Dakota State University iGEM team and the United States Air Force Academy iGEM team.
We had a great time getting to know these two brilliant iGEM teams and learning more about their fascinating projects. The questionaire segment was especially helpful as the iGEMers felt comfortable to ask questions to help deepen their understanding of another team's project, or to troubleshoot their own projects, similar to an open classroom style approach. See below for some pictures relating to the event!
The Ohio State iGEM
This year iGEM Wright State had the privilege of collaborating with The Ohio State University's iGEM team for outreach and education. Both teams have the common goal of serving for a new frontier in science education in our state of Ohio. We saw that much of the science education in our state has yet to incorporate synthetic biology concepts. As a collective iGEM Wright State and The Ohio State University's iGEM came together to provide fun, informative, and engaging synthetic biology activities to introduce to the curriculum at Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton and COSI Museum in Columbus.
With The Ohio State University’s iGEM team experience as an established iGEM team and the resources provided by Wright State University’s iGEM team (contacts at both museums and mentors to talk to about making sure our outreach was compliant with Ohio Department of Education standards) we were able to reach a greater audience than if both teams were to work individually. Both teams would meet around 2-3 times per month via Zoom to compile activities to incorporate into an compilation of synthetic biology activities for the museums that would be used for science exploration days at both museums. (See Outreach and Communication tab for more details)
The materials we developed for the science exploration days will be passed along to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and COSI Museum for future usage amongst educators here in Ohio. Making sure that STEM education is accessible should be a common goal amongst the science community and we feel that we accomplished this with our outreach/education project this year.
