Our commitment to society was fundamental for our team, because we are sure that if people know more about the problems that science tries to solve, they will want to get involved, apart from the fact that we consider not only to leave work in a laboratory, it is important to transmit that new information; therefore, our team tried to involve society through various activities

We believe that between science and society there is a point that makes them converge, disclosure, without it both would exist in a vacuum of ideas and problems; That is why we seek to impact with information and proposals, thanks to this we obtained a constant feedback in which we were able to learn bidirectionally.

Conferences

Green Carson

Our project is in direct contact with the existence of pollution caused by plastic. Since this direct relationship exists we have thought about how important it is, as a society to have a culture of separation and recycling, in this way to put our grain of sand by decreasing the contamination by this material, either by collecting and recycling together with organizations and companies in charge of their collection and treatment or individually in our home.

That is how we joined companies with social responsibility such as GREEN CARSON. The Green Carson company is a company in charge of waste collection and management, it is the best solution in waste collection, treatment and final disposal focused on companies, industries, government entities and municipalities.

We joined with Green Carson to seek the same objective; promote the culture of recycling, this was achieved through conferences held at our University on Monday, August 29, 2019.where the problem of plastic was addressed through raw figures as well as its impact on ecosystems on land and sea, to later explain the importance of separation and recycling PET, the ways to classify it, as well as the role we have as an individual and society to solve this problem.

Throughout the talk, several of the students involved expressed ideas of projects that could be carried out for the reduction of PET and its use. This reinforces how important it is to inform students about current issues and work on solutions within their reach, in addition to the positive feedback that the company and team representatives received.

Education

We are convinced that children represent our future as a country; If we help cultivate interest in science, these children will grow up without gaps in information about it. That is why this category is divided into classes, workshops and a videogame that they developed to understand the problems we address within the project.

LESSONS

Synthetic biology is a weird concept in many schools in Puebla, we decided to make several visits to middle and high school institutions to share with children what is the positive impact of synthetic biology and the develop of this field in recent years. In order to have better communication with guys we receive support by a licentiate in education to structure our program.

After we received some advices, we divided our program in it in two parts: Concepts and Activities. A concept class need to be short (around 20 minutes) and as familiars as possible, we did not use a lot of technicism and we replaced some concepts for other more familiar, for instance genes for Lego pieces, with this strategy we got the attention of the groups.

For activities we played some games in order to feedback the new concepts they learned such as synthetic biology, biobricks, genes, and much more. These games were adaptations of Mexican games as “encantados” and “policias y ladrones”. We received a good response by children, and they learn a lot of new terms in an easy way.

WORKSHOPS “LIVING THE SCIENCE”

Our team, with the support of the city council of the city of Córdoba, Veracruz, organized Science Workshops with a reach for people of all ages. These 3 workshops consisted of a workshop on Scientific Illustration, Science Workshops and a talk about Women in Science, which had a deep and direct relationship with our human practices on Women in Science.

These workshops were held at the City Municipal Library on August 30 and 31, September 7 and 8, and September 21 and 22.

SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP

INTRODUCTION

The illustration has been applied in science since ancient times, to represent the discoveries to the public, inside and outside the scientific field. This need to disseminate information is still present today through photography, 3D modeling, and digital drawing focused on science. That is why, the scientific illustration workshop is proposed, since it allows the attendees to understand in a practical way, the need to not only produce science in the laboratory or the field, but to make it accessible and open to the public.

OBJECTIVE

Identify the differences between scientific and naturalistic illustration. Make a botanical illustration according to the knowledge learned.

DESCRIPTION

The topics addressed were the following:

Theory: Illustration and science. Naturalistic illustration. Scientific illustration.

A slide was presented to the attendees to identify the difference between the types of illustrations applied to science.

Introduction and materials. Theory: Types of brushes and their uses. Types of paper. Pill and tube watercolors.

Dry and wet techniques. Practical theory: Wet over wet. Diluted colors applied on a damp paper. Wet over dry. Watercolor applied on a dry surface.
1. Practice: Exercise to release the hand, practicing different degrees of pressure and inclination with the brush.

Color and watercolor. Theory: Color theory. The chromatic circle Warm and cold colors. Complementary and similar colors.

Practice: Making a color circle of primary and secondary colors, and obtaining values of the generated colors.

Textures. Practical theory: Generate interesting textures with common materials and without the use of the brush.
Final exercise: Plant species were presented to the attendees, along with their anatomical descriptions. From them they made silhouettes, sketches and an illustration of the species highlighting the key parts according to the description.

OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS

Some attendees had good theoretical and practical knowledge about the management of color applied to watercolor, this facilitated the progress of the workshop and allowed more time for observation exercises and to see applications of scientific drawing. It was very gratifying to see the interest of the attendees and that our PlastiCO2 project was a close and done example in our region. This workshop allowed attendees to understand that the applications of drawing are not limited to entertainment or advertising design, but that it has been and continues to be an important pillar for scientific dissemination.

WOMEN IN SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

During the time in which we approach surveys and interviews within our integrated human practices for women in science, we realize that the main factor by which girls lose interest in science is by the family nucleus, that is; The parents' opinion about science and related careers is how we understood that not only was the dissemination of science at different educational levels important, but also to fathers and mothers. We know that we cannot impose a position on science, because people are free to give a different opinion; However, we believe it is important to disseminate true information about the subject, so that people can opt for a solid position with basic information. This is how the discussion of women in science emerged, elaborated in order to eliminate the stereotypes that Mexican culture has formed over decades about gender roles within science.

OBJECTIVES

Eradicate stereotypes of gender roles within the scientific field.
Stimulate the scientific vocations of children and young people regardless of gender stereotypes.
Contribute to the perspective of society so that they can generate actions towards gender equity in science.
Make known the contribution and contributions of women to science.

DESCRIPTION

The talk began with examples of outstanding women within the scientific field with their respective contributions, after that figures from the AMC (Mexican Academy of Sciences) and CONACYT (Council of Science and Technology) on the subject were provided; this with the objective of visualizing the great difference between women and men that develop within the area, comparing this figure with other countries of Latin America and later with countries around the world, then a video about interviews with doctors about the theme and perspective of each of them, the figures we obtained through the surveys we conducted were also explained, to finally explain.

OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS

We consider that it was a unique experience to be able to carry out this talk on the subject in which we immersed ourselves for several months, for us it was very important the assistance of fathers and mothers in which we could observe a lot of participation through questions. We undoubtedly believe that it is very important to continue the dissemination of this information with the aim of eliminating erroneous ideologies about women in science and promoting their participation and interest in it.

SCIENCE WORKSHOP

INTRODUCTION

Many times educational centers lack teaching materials and personnel to prepare and conduct experimental activities or educational workshops. These limitations make classes become expository, with little or no participation of students and the use of laboratories is restricted. That is why we decided to go beyond the theory, thus planning the science workshop, it was developed so that people of all ages could have direct contact with science. Our team knows that manipulating, experimenting and showing science in its real context fosters the desire to know and be partakers of the scientific world. In addition, it encourages adopting a positive attitude towards science while encouraging the development of skills related to the way of doing science, such as observation, question and prediction, Interpretation of results, etc.

OBJECTIVES

Promote scientific culture through dynamics and experiments.
Give examples of the benefits that science has generated as well as the benefits that could bring new approaches to it.
Know the basic principles of genetics through experiments such as DNA extraction and the application of this knowledge.
Develop a critical and constructive position in relation to scientific and technological progress and its impact on the quality of life.
Foster appreciation for the environment and respect for nature, developing favorable attitudes for the achievement of a healthy life at an individual and social level.

DESCRIPTION

The workshop was opened through basic experiments of different sciences, in order to capture everyone's attention, after that they followed some experiments about DNA, for example the extraction of DNA with fruits such as strawberries, bananas and tomatoes; the principles of each experiment were explained to them while they were carried out with the participation of everyone and after that they were told about the applications of this knowledge, all this was necessary to land on the subject of synthetic biology, where they were explained what it was and how our team worked to solve environmental problems such as water acidification and plastic pollution.

OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS

It was quite satisfying to notice the children's interest in the experiments performed, see their curiosity and be able to answer their questions; after this activity we have no doubt that children generate the best questions; Well, your curiosity is present all the time. It was also comforting to see the participation of adults as well as their surprise to understand why some phenomena happen that until then they did not fully understand or had not even questioned.

VIDEOGAME (Special track)

EDUCATION FROM VIDEO GAMES

In the current system of educational competencies that the SEP asks teachers, it is not enough that the student only memorize terms, dates, equations and data in general. This knowledge needs to be processed and improved, that is, one must understand and associate them in different fields, in order to apply it in a problem or new area of opportunity. That is why in our science and math studies we discover new areas and topics such as electromechanics, bioethics or astrophysics.

This, together with raising interest in the syllabus, are the objectives of the educator in the curriculum, as the student has to raise their knowledge beyond what is seen in the classroom.

For learning, students can be approximated by different senses, such as visual, auditory and kinesthetic, with which they explore their environment and their understanding of the sciences and philosophy of the human being. Each student responds with different degrees of effectiveness depending on their predisposition, consequently, the teacher has to use different tools to capture the student's attention and facilitate a personalized teaching. Exercises such as dictation, elaborate and examine illustrations, reading and summaries, among others, are common activities that educators use for understanding and information processing. And yet, modern education often ignores a set of tools that cover all the senses of the human being for learning in a single medium, as well as being flashy and fun for students.

That is the reason by we decided to apply a survey to students of middle school, to verify how they really get certain scientific knowledge that can be, in a way, difficult to explain for teachers. As well as knowing how students prefer get knowledge about this area.

Education accompanied with digital tools.

The teacher often thinks that these means are a substitution that is naturally from one method to another "better", a book by Wikipedia. The assumption will be made that articles and digital books replaced physical versions in libraries, since today's students are more instructed to investigate using the internet. However, these are totally different means, which have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, on the internet you will find the full biography of Hernán Cortes more easily, while in a university thesis you can have specialized research on the psyche of the conqueror of America. Greater ease in finding content, against specialization of information, difficulty in verifying data, backups and sources, against less scope and slow distribution.

The educator must understand that, despite having certain similar characteristics (such as content and information), they should be used in different instances. And so, like the didactic or illustrative material that can help to understand the topics of the class, these can be confusing and ineffective if they are not used in the right way.

After all research, we have a a question, how do students really prefer to obtain this information?

According to the results obtained from the applied surveys, we got the follow graph which indicate that children would prefer to learn science through video games more than books.

Likewise, the conception of videogames as an educational tool is neglected, seen merely as a distractor and not a facilitator for learning. In addition to that the designers and creators of this tool do not understand its potential, limitations and disadvantages, being poorly designed at several points, such as:

Break the immersion and cause disinterest, by saturating information with long texts. Why use a video game when you can read all that in a book? This should be distributed and summarized along the way, to avoid being tedious and boring. Knowing how to distribute the information is key.
The lack of user interaction, as well as uninteresting mechanics, loses the kinesthetic part of student learning. Why use a videogame then, when removing user participation maintains an equal product? You should not lose sight of the fact that it should also be interesting to play it, as this is not an interactive book or documentary, and should not be treated as such.
Digitizing an analog game (such as a puzzle or memory) is extremely expensive and inefficient. It is easier to use or create a physical version.
The video game must be a tool for introducing knowledge (or in any case, a summary of them) and a generator of interest, rather than the substituent of some material. The videogame has the problem of reducing information, to avoid the first point, hindering a complete panorama of the subject. However, the impact that the student has with the key points presented to him is stronger and more lasting than with any other form of teaching.

With all this in mind, the game "Coli" is intended as a key teaching, for certain complicated elements of the agenda of this project for the iGEM, rather than being an encyclopedia of varied knowledge to understand biology.

Likewise, it is designed for minds of secondary, elementary school, who have basic concepts of biology, to understand the game.

REFERENCES

Tzu-Hua Wang. (mayo 2010). Web-based dynamic assessment: Taking assessment as teaching and learning strategy for improving students’ e-Learning effectiveness. Computers & Education, Vol. 54, P. 1157-1166.
Gustavo de Elorza. (29 jul. 2014). Actualicemos el concepto de Educación y reiniciemos la escuela | TEDxMarDelPlata. de Youtube. Sitio web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv3HaTkzAmk
María Ángeles González y Gabino Flores Castro, SEP. (2016). El modelado Educativo 201. El planteamiento pedagógico de la Reforma Educativa. Sitio web: https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/114501/Modelo_Educativo_2016.pdf
Lucas Gortazar. (15 ago. 2018). ¿Aprobar o aprender? | TEDxUDeusto, de Youtube. Sitio web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8smMhh8DRU.
Angela Meluso, Meixun Zheng, Hiller A. Spires, JamesLester. (sep. 2012). Enhancing 5th graders’ science content knowledge and self-efficacy through game-based learning. Computers & Education, Vol. 59, P. 497-504.
Leslie M. Miller, Ching-I. Changa, Shu Wang, Margaret E. Beier, Yvonne Kliscc. (ago. 2011). Learning and motivational impacts of a multimedia science game. Computers & Education, Vol. 57, P. 1425-1433.
Mitchell, A. & Savill-Smith, C. (2005). The use of computer and video games for learning. A review of the literature. Londres: Learning and Skills Development Agency.
Merrilea J. Mayo. (julio 2007). Games for science and engineering education. Communications Of The Acm, Vol. 50, P. 31-35.

Team:BUAP Mexico/Public Engagement

Human Practices: Education and Public Engagement Special Prize

Conferences

Education