Team:MADRID UCM HS/Education
Education
Spreeding SynBioIntroduction
From our point of view, education is a key element in our society because it works as a changing and a development engine. Our project focuses not only on the development of the main lab idea, but also in the creation of didactic materials that benefit the educational community. This materials can be used not only to teach synthetic biology, but also for teaching basic biology concepts at lower levels.
This initiative was born thanks to the objective of bringing science closer to people. This materials are designed by the MADRID_UCM_HS team to present complex contents in such a simple way that almost everyone, even without specific formation in this area, can understand. For this reason, STAIN proposes some examples of original games that are now available for everyone who is interested in innovating education in an interactive way.
INFOGRAPHICS
Infographics are a great way to show complex concepts related to investigation in a visual format. As an alternative to long boring texts, infographics display the information graphically structured in such a way that complex concepts are easier to understand. This interactive infographics were used among the project as a teaching tool.
INTERACTIVE GAMES
Nowadays, technology is part of our daily lives and makes everything easier for us so, why should we not take advantage of it when teaching science? Interactive games are a powerful tool that make learning fun and engaging. This is an example of an interactive game that is mostly focused on learning the process of cloning.
BOARD GAMES
Board games are instruments that are within everyone’s reach. For this reason, Stain proposes two different board games with two different dynamics and one common objective: learn biology in a fun way!
Ocariota
Ocariota is a board game designed for learning the cell functions and structure. Its objective is to complete an eukaryotic animal cell model made by us. To achieve that, you have to get the pieces, which correspond to cellular organelles, by winning different mini-games. These mini-games are divided into four categories (prokaryotic cell, eukaryotic animal cell, eukaryotic plant cell and cell cycle). To help the player, some pieces and clues are given throughout the game.
ADNízate
The dynamic of this game is similar to “the goose game" as the main goal is to reach the finish line before your opponent does. The difference between “ADNizate” and the goose game is that, every time you fall in a square, you must answer a question. If you don't know the correct answer, you lose a turn.
The game is divided into four sections that correspond to different themes (molecular structure of DNA, chromosomes; replication, transcription and translation of DNA, and mutations of the genetic code). Each section is differenced by a specific colour, which is on the board and on the question cards.
