Organizing lecture and laboratory practice for high school students

On April 4th, we organized a lecture introducing synthetic biology specially for high- school level students. For those who had attended our lecture, we provided a-whole-day lab practice. During the lecture, we introduced the history of synthetic biology and the infl uence and core idea of iGEM, explained how DNA is functioning within our bodies, how we created a component part utilizing synthetic biology and the underlying mechanism of editing cells. The following lab practice was coupled with this lecture, experiments composed of cultivating cells, exposing yeasts to UV rays and observing their color with microscope were a great help for attenders to understand basic biological techniques. After the experiments, we analyzed the outcomes and mistakes made during the operation, which was aiming at establishing the concept of laboratory safety and a habit of reflection for these beginners.

Reflection

In China, high school students will determine whether to learn art or science in the second year. Thus, it really matters for those students to learn science if they want to further their study in biology. As for our workshop, we hope through the experience of laboratory practice and lecture for synthetic biology, more students will be attracted to the field of synthetic biology, or biology.

This was the first that we organized such activity. After organizing and participating in the activity, we found that in China, most students are rather introversive. For example, seldom did any student voluntarily ask for a chance to have a try during laboratory practice. However, if we asked them to take a try, they would obey and do whatever we asked them to do. Chinese students are rather passive in learning, and that does not agree with our initial aspiration of setting this activity. Thus, we decided to figure out some methods to change the situation, including more encouragement, less participation of teachers in laboratory practice and better preparation before the workshop.

Social media

We created a platform based on WeChat, the most popular social media in China, to promote the publicity of our team, enhance the interaction between us and people interested in synthetic biology and our project, and popularize basic concept and knowledge of synthetic biology

As to promote the publicity of our team, we designed a series of articles introducing our team members, with one member each time, about their experience as iGEMRs and their advice. This series achieved a great success, attracted many college students to synthetic biology and followed our official accounts.

Another series of articles was aiming at introducing basic knowledge about synthetic biology. A total of 10 articles were published, with an interval of 2 weeks for each article. Themes included basic concept in synthetic biology, bacteria in daily life, jobs related to synthetic biology, interesting stories in synthetic biology, application of synthetic biology and timelines of synthetic biology. Our readers were composed mostly of college students and some high school students, and we received many favorable remarks and request to publish our articles once a week.

Either series has attracted many followers. With every article published, we would receive many comments, and we really appreciated those who pointed out something we miss. Besides, the most frequently asked question was how should a person get prepared in order to qualify himself or herself as an iGEMr in the coming year.