Team:USyd-Australia/Outreach
From 2014.igem.org
Our Goals
Our project is in the “Foundational Advance” track and similarly we wanted High School students to learn and investigate what Synthetic Biology is, and where it is heading in the future. In 2013, the University of Sydney iGEM team created Strange Nature, a Synthetic Biology writing competition for high school students, asking the question "What problems will be caused or solved by synthetic biology?". We provided students with inspiration through our online learning platform, giving them a multitude of examples of the cool and kooky ways that synthetic biology can be used.We believe in the saying 'to create is to learn', so this year we decided to continue the writing competition, asking for students to share their opinions about synthetic biology in 1000 words. We asked students to create a 1000 word piece answering the following question:
“Which advancement in synthetic biology do you think
is the most promising, and why?”
While genetic engineering is superficially covered in the NSW and Australian High School curriculum we felt it important to try and get students to think beyond what they've been taught in class. Our aim was to encourage students to find information on Synthetic Biology on their own, and to raise awareness of the field.
Competition
Our competition was hosted on the Strange Nature website where we provided resources about what Synthetic Biology was, recent developments and future applications. The competition was open until the 1st October. We had a whole host of submissions from Dystopian future stories of genetically engineered super humans to exploding E. coli. We had more essays submitted this year than previously and while the quality of submissions varied they were all incredibly insightful to what the students think about the possibilities of Synthetic Biology. We currently have a short list of 6 pieces which we feel are well written, explore Synthetic Biology and show imagination in their responses.Out and About
University Open Days
Over the course of the year we volunteered at our Universities Open Days, spruiking both studying Science and participating in the Strange Nature writing competition. Talking to future science students about what is possible and what may soon be possible was incredibly insightful and seeing their interest in Synthetic Biology was wonderful.Pictured above are Kya (left) and Callum (right) talking to prospective Science students about everything from Genetic Engineering to the best place for coffee on campus.
Science Week Volunteering
We also volunteered as part of the Australian Society for Microbiology during Science Week at their stall at the Australian Museum. There we were able to talk to hundreds of Primary (years K-6), High School students (years 7-12), and general members of the public to discuss Microbiology, Biotechnology and also find out what they knew about Synthetic Biology and genetic engineering. The displays really fascinated the kids and students, especially the fluorescent bacteria!Contacting Teachers and Schools
We got in contact with many teachers and schools to promote the writing competition. We also wrote articles for Science Resource Newsletters sent to teachers to try and increase the awareness of our project.Collaboration
University of Melbourne
In preparation for promoting the competition, we contacted the University of Melbourne iGEM team to see if they would like to collaborate. As part of their outreach, they decided to create their own informative video about Synthetic Biology for high school students, including a one minute feature about Strange Nature!To see the video, follow this link here